Pokémon Platinum
by GerdenGerudo
Summary: She wanted to be a Campion, her mother wanted her to be a Contest Star. The solution? Do both, behind her mother's back, and raise her Pokémon to fight and preform. Along the way, her and her team must battle against strange people who call themselves Team Galactic. With local and rare Pokémon alike, Conna will change Sinnoh forever. T to be safe.
1. First Pokemon, First Steps

Summary: She wanted to be a Campion, her mother wanted her to be a Contest Star. The solution? Do both, behind her mother's back, and raise her Pokémon to fight and preform. Along the way, her and her team must battle agenised strange people who call themselves Team Galactic. With local and rare Pokémon alike, Conna will change Sinnoh forever.

Gery: Okay, I'm back! So sorry for the wait, between misplacing my game, my other Fanfics and school, I was having a bad time with motivation. I'm going to rewrite the first few chapters before continuing, hopefully finding the spelling mistakes, adding some things and explaining a few things a bit better. Well, I've wasted enough of your time, enjoy! I own nothing but any OCs you see.

Prologue: First Pokémon, First Steps

The sun slowly rises over the trees as the sky turns a soft reddish-orange. Fluffy white clouds drift by lazily as the breeze carries them away. The leaves and tree branches dance with the wind and one branch taps the window of a house beside it, waking the child sleeping under her bed covers.

She groggily opens her eyes and yawns loudly, sitting up slowly as the tree branch keeps tapping her window. 'Oh, mornin' already?' she thinks as she kicks her covers off and puts her feet on her wooden floor, scratching her head sleepily. 'Wow, last night sure sped by,' she gets off her bed and heads to the washroom to wash her face.

After dipping the washcloth over her face, the young girl walks out of the washroom as she stretches, yawning all over again. The girl puts her hands behind her head and glances at the calendar, gasping when she sees what day it is. 'Oh man, Barry's gunna be waiting!' she runs through her room, throwing on a deep blue T-shirt, black jeans and a red jacket over top. She quickly brushes her shoulder length, light blue hair down and throws on a white tuque with a bright red Poké mark on it.

She runs down the stairs and jumps the last five steps, grabbing an apple from the fridge as she takes her yellow duffle bag off the kitchen chair. "Conna, what are you doing?" her mother, Joanna, asks, coming into the kitchen/living room to see her daughter heading for the door.

"Gotta meet Barry at the school for exploring!" Conna says quickly and runs out of the house.

Her mother sighs and goes to the door. "Don't forget to stay out of the tall grass!"

"I won't!" Conna yells over her shoulder with her mouth full of apple. She runs through her small home town of Twinleaf and skids to a stop just outside of the school's fence, where a boy with blonde hair, green eyes and wearing an orange and white striped shirt is impatiently tapping his foot.

"There you are, Con! I was wondering when you'd make it!" the boy says as Conna slows to a stop and puts her hands on her knees, panting.

"I was up late last night…lost track of time," she explains, catching her breath.

"Oh well, who cares? C'mon, we need to go look in that clearing we found!" he grabs Conna's arm and tows her away after him, still talking. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get away from my mom and dad, they wouldn't stop asking me where I was going, who I was going with, when I would be back. Man, adults sure like to talk a lot, eh?"

"Just like someone I know," Conna remarks but is ignored by her hyper friend.

Soon they come to a clearing they found not too long ago. It's an amazing place, the trees surround it so only Pokémon and the two kids can get in, there is a large lake in the middle, an underwater river the source of the water. Grass, reeds and flowers of all sorts are everywhere and the calls of Pokémon are the only sounds. The kids easily climb through a tree to get in and go to the edge of the water, talking about which type of Pokémon they'd want to get.

"I'd like a Fire Type! They aren't that common and you can dominate with them!" the boy, Barry, says as the two skip rocks.

"I'm fine with anything, I just want a partner who I can become the Champion with," Conna says, getting three skips in row.

Suddenly a cry echoes through the trees, Conna looks around, but can see no one, other than Barry. "Did you hear that?" she asks.

"Hear what?" Barry asks, looking around quickly.

"There was a cry, just now, it sounded like it came from…" she turns in slow circles until she points to a tree with a hollow hole, "there." Curiosity getting the better of her, Conna moves towards the hollow and puts her hands on the trunk, sticking her head in to see what's inside.

She gasps in wonder when she sees an injured Pokémon, it looks a little like a cat with blue fur and big feet. The cat-like Pokémon looks up and locks baby blue eyes with Conna's navy blue and ice blue eyes and backs away in fear, but Conna shushes it gently and puts her hand in the hollow, gently petting the Pokémon's soft fur. It purrs lightly and pushes its head into her hand, making her smile and laugh quietly. "Aren't you a cute Pokémon?" she asks, scratching under its chin.

"Mww," it replies, licking Conna's fingers with a small tongue.

"Heh-heh, hey Barry, come look at this!" she whispers/yells, not wanting to scare the hurt creature any more than it was. Her blonde friend comes over and his eyes grow wide when he sees the Pokémon.

"Wow, what is it?" he wonders.

"I dunno, but it's hurt," Conna says and coos softly to it as she takes it out of the hole. "It's okay, Barry and I won't hurt you. You're safe with us," the Pokémon snuggles into Conna's warm arms and coos back, smiling cutely at the kind-looking girl. "What are you?" the ten-year-old asks, petting it down its head to its back gently.

"Mew, Mew," it says.

"Mew? I didn't know they existed!" Barry says loudly and Conna has to rub Mew between the eyes to keep it calm.

"Bar, don't be so loud, you'll scare Mew!" Conna snaps quietly as she goes to the side of the trees. "We need to get that scratch fixed up. Barry, we need to find some Oran Berries for Mew," Conna tells him as she puts Mew down on a small, soft patch of grass. "Don't worry, we'll get you healed up in no time!"

"Mww," Mew yawns widely and curls its tail around itself to rest.

Nodding to herself, Conna looks around and spots some Oran Berries. She runs over and gets them off the bush to find them a bit ripe, since it's late fall, but she's sure Mew won't mind. She goes back to the Psychic Pokémon to find Barry holding the wrong berries. How ironic.

"Don't worry, Barry, I've got them here," Conna laughs when her friend throws the wrong berries in frustration. She sits down beside Mew and gently picks it up, waking it from its nap. "Sorry to wake you, but I have some Oran Berries here, they'll heal you."

Mew nods and take one of the ripe fruits in its small paws, nibbling on it as Conna smiles up at Barry. "No," he says, knowing what his friend is about to say. "You can't keep a Legendary Pokémon now Conna! You know they like to know someone's worth! And you need Badges for that!"

"Hey, I'm going to become the Champion anyway, and my first step will be tomorrow when the Professor comes back from Kanto. C'mon Barry, Mew needs to rest up, and I have better Oran berries back at home anyway," Conna looks down at Mew as it lets out a small burp before putting its paws over its mouth. The young girl laughs and the Legendary soon joins as she stands. Not too long after, Barry starts to laugh and they aren't able to stop for another ten minutes.

"Okay, I'll admit, Mew's pretty awesome. But what about your mom? You know how she gets when Pokémon are in your house," Barry says as they sit on the water's edge, Mew sitting on Conna's shoulders as it wears her tuque.

"I don't know. Can't Mew use Teleport?" Conna asks.

"I think so, you'd have to ask it," Barry says.

"Well, maybe Mew can hide in my bag," Conna looks up at Mew as it sits on her head. "Do you mind?"

"Mew," it shakes its head and goes into the bag, easily fitting inside it.

"That was easier than I expected," Barry says and stands up. "Come on, our parent's will start worrying if we don't get home soon."

Nodding, Conna runs after her friend and they make it to their homes just before dusk falls. "See you tomorrow Con, bright and early!" Barry waves and goes into his house.

"Alright, stay quite Mew," Conna whispers and walks into her house.

"There you are, I was wondering when you'd be home. What did you and Barry discover?" Joanna asks as she sets up the dinner table.

"Oh, nothing much, just a small pond in the trees. It ain't anything too special," Conna shrugs and walks up the stairs, a bit faster than usual.

"Are you okay, honey? You seem…rushed," her mother looks her in the eye.

"When you hang out with Barry as much as I have, you tend to get faster," Conna says truthfully.

"Alright, we'll have dinner in about fifteen minutes."

"Okay," Conna goes into her room and locks the door, sighing. She puts the bag on her bed and Mew pokes its head out, sniffing the air curiously. "Alright, here's my room. You can stay here for tonight then head back into the wild once you're better," she says as she sits on the bed. The cat-like Pokémon crawls onto her lap and curls up, purring happily when she laughs and strokes its fur.

Almost too soon, Joanna calls her daughter down and she sighs grudgingly as she takes Mew off and puts it on her pillow. "Rest easy, alright? I'll swipe some food for you."

At dinner, Conna spoons the pasta and sauce into her mouth and swallows before looking at her mom. "Hey, mom, did you hear the news last night? Professor Rowan's coming back from Kanto tomorrow! I can finally start my journey!" she says happily.

"About that, you know how you told me that you wanted to be Champion?" Joanna asks.

"Yep! I can't wait!" Conna jumps in her seat thinking about it.

"You won't be doing that."

"I'm excited too-! Wait, what mom?" she looks at her in confusion.

"Conna, I don't want you to become Champion."

"…Why not?" Conna looks down.

"A friend of mine lives in Sandgem Town, and he said his son came back from that challenge, he had lost. He was heartbroken, Conna, his Pokémon weren't strong enough to defeat even the Elite Four. I know it's your dream, but you will be doing Contests instead, there's less to lose if you do that."

"But mom, I've wanted to be the Champion since I saw that boy defeat the Indigo League in Kanto! And he was only ten, like I am now! I know what I'm going for, and I'll do it with the best team I have!" Conna says, fist pumping the air.

"Won't your Pokémon enjoy getting dressed up and not dirty?" Joanna asks.

"Maybe, I'd have to ask. And it isn't like I would treat them badly! I'd take care of them wonderfully! And we can all enjoy a nice, hot meal after we get a Badge!"

"You can make your Pokémon do great things in Contests."

"And I can fight with them in a heated battle and become closer to them!"

"Conna, this is my last time saying this. You _will_ be in Contests, and you will _not_ challenge the Gyms! Now go upstairs and pack for your Contests!" Joanna orders.

"Fine!" Conna yells and stands up quickly, ignoring her mom telling her to pick up the chair she tipped. She goes into her room and slams her door shut in frustration, waking up Mew with a jolt. She makes herself calm down as she sits in front of her door, closing her eyes as tears fall down her face.

"Mew…" she opens her eyes to see Mew flying in front of her face, tilting its head.

Conna wipes her eyes with her arm and sighs, "She doesn't understand. Being the Champion is my dream. I don't want to be in Contests, I want to grow with my Pokémon and be close to them when we challenge and _beat_ the current Champion. She's never understood."

"Mew, Mew," it sits on her lap and looks up at her, baby blue eyes wide.

She scratches behind its antenna and hits her head back on the door. "I wish there was a way to do what I want."

Mew looks down, seeming to be thinking about something, before looking up with a determined glow in its eye. It flies off Conna's lap and goes around her head, eyes glowing as sleep overcomes the girl. Soon, she falls to her side and snores quietly after Mew finishes its Hypnosis.

Mew gathers a small ball of energy in its paws, making it grow until it's the size of its head before flying at the sleeping girl, who's skin flashes sky blue, the colour of Mew's fur, before dulling back to normal. The Legendary nods, satisfied with its work, and levitates the girl onto her bed before snuggling under the covers. Before Mew settles down beside the pillow, it forms a small pendant in its paws, curling up around it to keep it safe.

-The next morning-

'Why does my head kill me?' Conna wonders when she wakes up from her deep sleep. Something warm touches her face and she opens her eyes to see Mew's tail flicking her nose. Smiling, she sits up and pets the Pokémon, making it purr in content as it opens its eyes, looking up at her.

"Mew, Mew!" it chirps and flies around Conna's head, she blinks.

"What's wrong, Mew?" she asks, watching it fly around.

It waves its paw and goes into the bathroom, calling out to her. "Okay," she says slowly and walks in. "I don't know what's wro-" she blinks when Mew flies in front of the mirror, an image starting to show in the reflection. Conna walks up to it and sees two different images, one image is a girl in a Contest like her mom wants, and the other one is of a boy, who looks a bit similar to her, fighting with blurred out Pokémon. Mew circles around the mirror and the images merge, showing both people to be her, and she slowly starts to get what it's saying. "So, you think I should do both? One as me, and the other as a boy?" she asks Mew, who nods enthusiastically.

She looks back at the mirror, with her long, light blue hair, can she really pull of being a guy? And even if she cuts it, how will she be a girl for Contest?

Mew, seeming to read her mind, flies around her head and she feels her scalp tingle as her hair grows shorter, until it's short and spiky, and becomes a dark navy blue. Her eyes remain the same, but she can easily hide them with sunglasses, both as a boy and a girl, so it can work.

The young girl smiles brightly at the Legendary. "Thanks, Mew, I hope I can add you to my team one day. Go on, you have a home to get back to," she pushes the window open and Mew looks at her with sad eyes. "I know, but we'll meet again. Once I'm stronger and have a great team, I'll find you again and make you part of it. Deal?" she gives out her hand and Mew shakes it with both its paws, smiling sadly. It flies out the window, looking back at the now short haired Conna, and an orb glows in its paws before appearing above the girl.

She takes the orb and it turns into a necklace, a Pokéball one on side and a Contest Ribbon on the other, the ball is white and red and the ribbon is silver with an icy blue gem in the middle. Conna looks up to see Mew no longer there, but understands slightly what this necklace is. She slips it on over her head and presses the gem on the ribbon, her scalp tingles again and her hair turns back to normal.

She presses the middle of the Pokéball and her hair becomes short again. Perfect! Grinning widely, she changes her hair to the normal length and goes into her room, humming happily as she packs her blue and red backpack, her duffle bag being too girly for a guy, and who's going to see her bag anyway? She'll just toss the duffle into a hole and dig it back up whenever she visits her mom.

"Time to tell her," Conna says to herself and puts her pack into the duffle before taking a deep breath and going downstairs. She looks around the corner of the stairs to see her mom watching TV and steps out, head down and hands behind her back. "Mom?"

"Yes, honey?" Joanna looks away from the TV.

"I…I've decided to do what you want. I-I'll go into Contests," she looks up when she hears her mom stand. "But I'm not wearing a dress."

Her mom smiles. "I never expected you to. That's my daughter, a tomboy right through."

'If I was a boy you would let me become Champion, I bet,' Conna thinks as her mom hugs her.

"Alright, I'll be watching you on TV, go get 'em honey. I know you'll raise a great team," Joanna says and lets her only child go. "You should get to Barry's before he breaks down the door, and be careful in the tall grass."

"I know, mom, you remind me every day," Conna rolls her eyes playfully before going to the door. "I'll do my best, mom."

"I know you will," with one last smile, the ten-year-old steps out of the door and goes to her friend's house. She'll need to tell him what she plans to do.

"Wow, so Mew told you to do both, and now you're going to be a half-time guy?" he asks loudly. Good thing his room has thick walls! Of course, that could be because his parents didn't want to hear him shouting whenever he played games on his computer.

"Yes, and with this necklace I can make my hair short or long," Conna nods.

"That's awesome! So it's kind of like a compromise, eh? Well who cares? Let's go get our Pokémon!" he grabs her arm and drags her through his house. He waves to his parents and tugs Conna along as they go through Twinleaf.

She laughs and runs with her friend when they come to Route 201 and see a path around the tall grass. "Alright, so Sandgem town is just passed these things of grass. If we can get through the grass, we can get our first Pokémon!"

"Um, Barry? There's a path right the-"

"That will take too long! Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" he asks, backing up and getting into a sprinting pose.

'You could lose your leg to a Pokémon and never be able to go on your journey?' she thinks, knowing full well that he won't listen to her.

"Okay, here I go!" he runs and is about to hit the grass when a voice calls out.

"What do you think you're doing?!" they turn to see an elderly man with a blue suit and a white shirt under it. He has a full head of snow-white hair and looks rather angry. "Don't you know it's dangerous in the tall grass? And there's a path right there."

"That's what I said," Conna mutters.

"Hey, Conna, this old guy, he's Professor Rowan, isn't he?" Barry whispers and the Professor turns away from the two as she nods, recognizing him from the news the other night.

"They both wanted Pokémon, and they were willing to go into tall grass for that. Their lives would surely change if they were to meet Pokémon, is it right for me to put them on this path?" he mutters to himself before turning back to the two. "You both love Pokémon, don't you?"

"Yep! Pokémon are the greatest! Right Conna?" Barry looks at her.

"Of course!" she nods.

"Hmm, I'll ask this again, do you love Pokémon?"

"Yes! You can ask a hundred times, and we'll answer a hundred time," Barry starts.

"We love Pokémon!" they put their arms around each other's shoulders and fist pump the air.

"A pair of reckless kids, foolishly wanting to go into tall grass to meet Pokémon? It frightens me of what such people will do," he says.

"Well…if you won't give me a Pokémon, give one to my friend here. She didn't want to go into the tall grass, and she warned me not to," Barry admits.

"How big of you. Fine, I will give you both Pokémon," he says.

"You will?" the kids smile brightly.

"Yes, now, where did I put it?" he looks around when they hear another voice.

"Professor Rowan!" a boy with dark blue hair, wearing a light blue sweater and pants runs up, holding a brown briefcase. He looks about thirteen. "You left your briefcase at the lake."

"Ah, thank you, Lucas. I was about to entrust these two with their own Pokémon," Rowan tells him.

Lucas looks at them in shock, "What? But those Pokémon are crucial! You're really giving them away?"

"Yes, we stand side by side with Pokémon. There comes a time when all people meet Pokémon, and I believe it is these kids' times," he says as Lucas passes him the case. "Now, in here I have three Pokémon that you can pick, which one of you will go first?"

"Con should," Barry says. Said girl raises an eyebrow. "What? I'm trying to be a grown up here!"

Conna rolls her eyes and opens the case, three Pokéballs are nestled in the bottom and three labels are over top. The one on the right is a Water Type, and looks like a penguin, the one in the middle is a Fire Type and looks like a monkey, but Barry probably wants it so Conna leaves it alone. And finally there's the Grass Type on the left.

Her memory goes back to that one boy who came into the town, he had a lot of Pokémon and when she asked him what his favorite Type was, he said, "Anything but Grass. Those things are weak and they are bad against so many things, since a lot of Pokémon can learn Ice moves."

'I'll prove that guy wrong,' she thinks and takes the Pokéball with the turtle-like grass Pokémon.

"Alright, so I choose this one!" Barry takes the Fire Type and they both let out their new partners.

"Tur?" the turtle looks up at Conna as she crouches down. It has a moist brown shell with a black line on it, a yellow chin, yellow on its feet and a twig with two leaves comes out of its head. Its eyes are black with yellow rings around them.

"Chimchar!" the monkey dances around happily before hopping onto Barry's shoulder. It has a small swirl on top of its head, reminding Conna of soft ice cream, and its fur is an orangey-red. It has big ears, tan fur on its face making it seem more human and it has tan fur on its belly that swirls a bit.

"You two picked nicely, Chimchar gets very fast and can make good punches, and Turtwig, although slow, gets amazing defence and power," Rowan nods in approval.

"Hey Turtwig, guess what we're doing?" Conna asks, smiling at the small turtle.

"Tur?" it blinks at her curiously.

"We're going to beat the Sinnoh League!" she says.

"Let's go Lucas, our work here is done," Professor Rowan nods to the two before going through the grass.

The boy looks at both of the younger kids and says, "Sorry folks," before running off after the Professor.

"Wow, I didn't know he was so nice. He looks so stern and mean on TV," Barry says. He looks at Conna and gets jittery before jumping in the air. "We have Pokémon! You know what this means, right Conna?" he asks.

"I have an idea," she says, petting her Turtwig's leaf.

"I can't believe I get to say this. Conna, I challenge you to a battle!" Barry says.

Gery: Alright, there aren't many changes, but still, it's a bit better. Well, I'll be working on other stuff. I'll try to get the next chapter revised as soon as possible. See ya!


	2. Nicknames and a Big Loss

Gery: Hey, might as well get this all done and over with. I don't own anything, only OCs.

Chapter 1: Nicknames and a Big Loss

"Ready, Turtwig?" Conna asks. The turtle Pokémon nods and calls its name loudly as Barry's monkey jumps onto the ground.

"Let's show them what Fire Types are made of, Chimchar!" he says and Chimchar makes a piece sign. "Use…Scratch?" he says, uncertain.

The Fire Monkey runs forward with its hand extended and glowing, the claws on its hand extending. "Dodge it, and use Tackle!" Conna reacts on the beat and Turtwig jumps to the side before ramming forward, sending Chimchar off balance and making it fall.

It easily gets back to its feet and waits for Barry's next command. "Use Leer, then Scratch it!"

Chimchar's eyes narrow and Turtwig backs up a step in fear before Chimchar leaps forward and scratches Turtwig on the cheek, sending it back. It bounces on the ground a few times before picking itself up, not done yet. 'Let's see what else you know,' Conna thinks. "Turtwig, use Withdrawal!"

"Tur!" it encases itself in a blue shell before Chimchar can land another Scratch attack.

"Quick, Tackle!" Turtwig breaks the shell and rams Chimchar into the air.

"Chimchar, use Ember!" Barry yells and the monkey flips over, letting lose a stream of small embers out of its mouth as the flame on its tail flickers.

"Turtwig!" Conna cries as it slowly picks itself up, burns covering its body. 'Grass Types have a disadvantage to Fire Types, this is gunna be one heck of a fight. We'll need to strategize if we want to win.'

"Finish it off with Scratch!" Barry says, smirking as he thinks it's over.

"Turtwig, stay still and don't move!" Conna says and the grass turtle, surprisingly, doesn't run and stands tall, bracing itself for impact. "A little more, a little more…" she mutters until Chimchar is half a meter away. "Use Tackle!"

"Tur-twig!" it jumps forward and lands a blow on Chimchar's stomach, much more powerful than before, and sends the monkey back. Once the small dust cloud clears, they see Chimchar lying on the ground, knocked out with swirls in its eyes.

"Wha-what?" Barry asks.

Conna cheers as she runs to Turtwig. "You did great!" she says and picks it up, laughing happily.

"Turtwig!" it cries and nibbles on Conna's ear gently as she hugs it.

"Wow! These little guys sure are amazing!" Barry says as he helps Chimchar stand up again.

"Yeah, we'll do great in the Gyms!" Conna grins widely.

"Oh yeah, have you thought on what you're doing for Contests?" Barry says, confused.

"Mew even helped me, remember?" she takes out the necklace and shows it to her friend. "The Pokéball side makes my hair shorter and darker, and a lot spikier, and the ribbon makes my hair normal. So for Contests, I'll be Conna, for battles, I'll be…" she trails off cursing herself. She never thought of a name!

"I would suggest Conner, but then everyone in Twinleaf will know it's you," Barry scratches his head. "Oh whatever, this is taking too long. Hey I know! Let's go see if we can find the Pokémon of the Lake!" he says and drags his friend after him.

Turtwig and Chimchar walk beside their trainers as they go through some trees and come to a large lake. "Alright, here we are! Now let's find us a Pokémon!" Barry says. "Oh wait, even if we find it, we can't catch it. We don't have any Pokéballs, you know, P-O-K-accent-E ball!"

"I know what you're talking about when you say Pokéball, Bar," Conna rolls her eyes.

"Hey, who's that?" he points to the shore of the lake, where a man with light blue, spiky hair is looking over it, seeming to mutter to himself. "Weird, never seen him before."

Conna nods in agreement as the man turns and comes towards them. "Excuse me," he says, looking at Conna for about a second longer than a glance before leaving the lake.

Then a Pokémon call breaks the silence and Conna whips her head around to see the blurry image of a Pokémon before it jumps into the water, disappearing and making them forget about the man. "I guess that's all we can do. C'mon, let's go to Sandgem to get our training licences," Conna says and they leave, not noticing a certain blue Legendary peeking out from the bushes.

"Okay, let's race there!" Barry says and runs off before Conna can protest.

Her Turtwig looks up at her and she laughs as she bends down to pet its head. "Don't worry, he's always like that. Whether he's had sugar or not," they start walking down Route 202. "You know, you need a name," Conna says as she puts her hands behind her head. "It feels weird when people don't nickname you guys, it's like you're all the same thing, when you're defiantly not. But what would be a good name?" she wonders.

As her mind wanders, Conna doesn't see the burrow in the ground before she falls into it, Turtwig right after her. Screaming, she and Turtwig slide down the tunnel and after many twist and turns in which they both got a few bruises, Conna lands on her stomach after the slide-like ride. She lifts her head to have Turtwig fall on it, both of them are dizzy from the ride. "Sorry," Conna says and takes her grass turtle off her head as she stands up, looking around. "This is a strange place," she mutters, looking back over her shoulder.

She goes towards the hole, but sees it's too steep to walk up. "Aw man, getting in trouble my first day of my journey, that's gotta be a record," she sweat-drops as she turns around and starts walking down the tunnel/cave. Drops of water and the occasional flapping of wings are the only sounds over Conna's footsteps as she progresses through the semi-dark cave.

A harsh shiver goes up her spine and she looks over her shoulder as Turtwig turns its head. "Do you feel like we're being watched?" she whispers. Turtwig nods as they become paranoid and look around their surroundings quickly. They come around a corner and Conna freezes in her tracks, her's and Turtwig's eyes going wide when they see a colony of Zubat and Golbat sleeping in the darkness. But there's also an exit passed the bat Pokémon and Conna gulps, looking down at Turtwig.

"You think we can do it?" she asks, nervous. Turtwig just calmly nods and jumps out of her arms, walking along quietly and watching around it for any movement. Taking a deep breath, Conna follows her partner and they make their way under the colony's heads. As they near the end, the young girl feels herself smile slightly. Turtwig walks slowly, but confidently and calmly, watching everywhere without missing a beat despite being a turtle.

She's taken out of her thoughts when a small piece of stalactite falls on her head, it doesn't hurt, but she does feel it. 'Huh?' she wonders, looking up to see a Golbat looking at her, mouth gaping open to let her see its long fangs. She tries to remain calm, but when it screeches and all the Pokémon look at her, she smiles nervously and backs up to the exit. "Oh, don't mind us, we were just leaving," she says, putting her hands up in front of her.

Not satisfied, the largest Golbat, obviously the leader, flies down from the roof and cries out its name before shooting forward. "AHH!" Conna screams as she runs, picking up her still calm Turtwig on the way. She flinches slightly from the sudden light, but she keeps running until she comes to a large willow tree, back resting on the trunk as she catches her breath. She's never run so fast in her life. "That was close," she mutters, falling to her butt.

"Tur! Turtwig!" it jumps out of her arms and points back to where they came from.

"What?" she asks.

Turtwig rolls its eyes and sits down, being calm, before acting like Conna and running around scared. "So you're saying I should have kept my calm? Even when a Golbat was going after me?"

"Twig! Tur-Tur-twig!" it nods before standing up, a bit clumsily, on its back feet and putting its right front foot on its chest, making a brave pose.

"You're also saying that I should stand up and be brave," Turtwig nods and continues the charade. It takes one of her Pokéballs and throws it up, letting it land on its head, and waves its front foot from side to side. "Or I won't catch anything," Conna finishes, sighing when Turtwig nods. She smiles lightly, "You're a smart little guy, aren't you?"

"Twig!" it says, looking slightly ticked.

"Wait…so you're not a male? You're female?" Conna asks, shocked when Turtwig nods. Funny, she's always heard that starters were male. She shrugs the thought off, obviously there's some exception. "Alright, you're a smart little girl. But you still need a name," she says thoughtfully as she rises to her feet, Turtwig following after her. "It should be something unique, something that will suit you well for even when you evolve."

She's taken out of her musings again when she finds where she is. A small river goes by, rocks dotting the water, and Water Pokémon jump in and out of the water, making her smile. "You know, I've always wanted to go on a journey, become something great, and I've finally started it. But half of it will be a lie," Turtwig tiles her head, confused. "You see, I want to be the Sinnoh Champ, beat the Elite Four and go to different Regions, but my mom wants me to be a Contest Star. I already know what I'm doing," she looks at Turtwig with a half-smile. "Both. Turtwig, I need to know if you want to do this. I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do. Will you becoming a Champ and a Star with me?"

Turtwig doesn't even think on it for a second, she nods once and nudges Conna's leg with her head. "Thanks, and I need to show you something, stay here," Conna goes behind the willow and changes into her more boyish clothes, which are a black vest over a grey shirt, baggy blue jeans, a black ball cap places backwards on her head along with dark sunglasses, so no one can see her malty coloured eyes. She presses the middle of the Poké Ball on her necklace and her scalp tingles again as her hair becomes shorter and darker. "Okay, here I come," she says and steps out, laughing when she sees Turtwig jump to her feet in shock. "This is what I'm looking like when we battle, so you'll be getting used to it. But I haven't come up with a name for this side of me yet."

Turtwig thinks about if before going to the mud and starting to drag her foot through it. "What are you doing?" Conna asks, walking over once Turtwig stops. She looks in wonder when she sees a roughly written name in the mud.

_Akio._

"Akio, huh? That sounds like it could work!" Conna smiles, petting Turtwig on the head. "You are a smart girl. Calm too. If it weren't for you, I would have freaked out back there in that cave," she says.

"Hey you!" she stands up to see a boy coming over. "You look like a rookie, so you'll be easy to beat! I challenge you to a battle!"

"Don't underestimate me," she says, lowering her voice slightly to sound more boyish.

The boy just smirks and brings out his Pokéball. "You ready?" Conna asks Turtwig, who nods. "Alright, let's do our best!" she says as her partner gets ready.

"Come on out, Bidoof!" the boy lets out a brown, beaver-like Pokémon with three lumps on its butt for a tail. It looks rather fat, but that could just be its fur. "Bidoof, use Tackle!" the boy commands.

"Dodge, then use Absorb!" Conna tells Turtwig, who runs at Bidoof and skids under it on her stomach. She turns and opens her mouth, green balls of energy escape from the Bidoof and the loss of energy from the Bidoof heals Turtwig a bit from the last battle with Barry. The Bidoof is sent off balance but quickly recovers.

"Bidoof, use Bite!" the boy yells and Bidoof lands a hit before Turtwig can move. It clamps its teeth down on Turtwig's head, and she grits her mouth as she shakes her head in an attempt to dislodge the beaver.

She manages to get the Bidoof off before jumping away, a minor bite mark on her head. "Use Tackle!" she runs at the Bidoof, about to land a hit, when a Zubat flies over their heads and Conna's eyes grow wide. "Oh-no," she and Turtwig look behind themselves to see a colony rise over the trees, the very same colony that they woke up. "What? I thought we lost them!" she yells as the boy stares from her to the colony of bat-like Pokémon.

"What did you do?" he asks.

"I didn't do anything, I fell into a cave and found these guys, but they didn't like my company very much," she rubs the back of her head.

"Well I'm getting out of here! Some battle money's not worth this!" the boy runs off after returning his Bidoof.

Conna's about to run too when Turtwig tugs her jeans leg. "Right, gotta face them," she says and turns to the colony. 'Turtwig's a Grass Type, so she's bad against Poison and Flying Types, and the Zubat chain is both, so we have a heavy disadvantage. But Turtwig wants me to face them, and we need to trust each other for this partnership to work.'

The colony flies at them and they both brace themselves. The Golbat leader hits Conna down with a Wing Attack and she shields Turtwig with her body as she feels something sharp go into her shoulder, making her cry out in pain as something warm and sticky seeps out of her broken skin, luckily it isn't all that bad. Suddenly she hears a crack through the air and the smell of something burning follows soon after. She lifts her head to see the colony flying off, the leader smoking, and a girl's voice calls out.

"Are you alright?!" Conna grunts as she gets to her hands and knees, loosening her arms for Turtwig.

"You okay, buddy?" she asks, Turtwig nods.

Conna sighs in relief before looking up to see a girl come out of the bushes, an Elekid by her side. She has light brown hair that reaches her mid-back and has the last little bit in a Poneta-tail, she's wearing a plain green shirt and a white skirt that goes to the middle of her thighs and she has blue/green eyes. "You're not hurt too bad, are you?" she asks, coming over to Conna.

"Naw, I once got over a broken leg, this will be nothing," Conna shrugs it off, the bight mark isn't even bleeding much, considering what the Golbat could have done had this girl not come along.

"That's good. Anyway, I'm Jasmine, what's your name?" Jasmine asks, smiling.

"I'm Co-" Turtwig kicks her legs, reminding her who she looks like. She covers her mistake with a very believable fake cough. "Heh, sorry, something got caught in my throat. My name's Akio," she smiles back at the taller girl.

"This is a cute Turtwig," Jasmine bends down, petting Turtwig's head. "What's his name?"

"Turtwig's a girl, and I haven't come up with a name yet," Conna rubs the back of her head.

"What's she like?" Jasmine asks.

"Well, she's level headed, seems to have a quick mind, and is really calm," she shrugs.

"I know the perfect name! Shizuka! It means 'calm'," Jasmine says.

"Really? How about it, does Shizuka sound good?" Conna asks. Turtwig nods quickly, saying her 'Turtwig'. "Alright, we can also call you Zuka for short," she pets her partner's head and stands up. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. This is my Elekid, Stanley," Jasmine introduces. "He's a little hot-tempered, but I can control him easily, right Stan?" she smiles at him but he looks away indifferently with crossed arms. "And he doesn't like to show how much he likes me sometimes."

"Wait, what time is it?" Conna asks, looking at the darkening sky.

"Oh, it's about…six twenty-three," Jasmine says, looking at a small watch-like thing on her wrist.

"Oh man, Barry's probably getting over-hyper from waiting," Conna runs her hand down her face.

"Berry? How can a berry get hyper?" Jasmine asks. Conna and newly named Shizuka raise their eyebrows.

"Barry's my best friend," Conna says slowly.

"You're friends with a berry?" Stanley face-palms as Conna falls over anime style.

"No, Barry is human and he's been my friend for three years," Conna says as she gets back up.

"Oh…right, I knew that!" Jasmine laughs sheepishly as Stanley sighs in annoyance. "Anyway, if you don't mind, we should camp out tonight and head to where your friend is tomorrow. Where are you headed anyway?"

"Sandgem."

"What a coincidence! I'm going there to visit a friend of mine's, we can go together!" Jasmine says, clapping happily. "Oh boy, my first traveling partner who I can actually talk to! This will be great!" she giggles and skips back into the bush, leaving Conna and Stanley the Elekid to sweat-drop as Shizuka sighs.

They quickly catch up to the giddy girl as she sets of a very big tent, which looks like it's too big for one person. "You know, I'm not even going to ask," the bluenette decides as she takes out a small sleeping bag from her backpack.

"Tur," Shizuka nods.

"We should get a fire started. Hey, Jasmine! Do you know how to make a fire?" Conna asks.

"Didn't you bring matches?"

"I thought I'd be in Sandgem town by now and buying some, but that isn't the case."

"No, I don't know how to make a fire," she shakes her head.

"Then how do you not freeze in that tent?" Conna looks at the tent, despite its size, it doesn't look very warm.

"Oh silly, I don't just have Stanley with me! Hey! I can introduce you to the rest of my team! Come on out guys!" she throws three more Pokéballs in the air and the usual red beams strike the ground, letting out the Pokémon inside.

Conna feels her jaw drop when she sees a larger-than-normal Arcanine, a Sneasel and a Staravia. What is this girl?

"Like them?" Jasmine asks as she pets the Arcanine's mane. "This is Flare, Grace and Louie. We've been through a lot of Contests together in Hoenn, though we didn't win many."

"C-Contests?" Conna looks at Shizuka, who just blinks, not seeming worried.

"Yeah, we only got two ribbons, but Sinnoh's gunna be a lot different!" Jasmine laughs. "Guys, meet Akio and Shizuka! They just started out, so be nice!" she tells them as the Arcanine goes up to Conna, who backs away a step. "Don't worry about Flare, Akio, she couldn't hurt a Caterpie."

"That's good to know," Conna mutters as Flare sniffs Shizuka, who just sits there and lets the fire dog sniff her. "I don't care how calm you are, you're gunna have a breaking point at some time."

"Sneasel," she jumps when the Dark/Ice Pokémon jumps on her shoulder, taking her necklace in its paw to look at it.

"Don't touch that!" Conna almost yells, but manages to make it seem like she's more surprised than worried.

"What is it? It looks like a Pokéball," Jasmine says, coming up with her other two Pokémon.

"It's something…I got from a friend," Conna shrugs. "It was sort of a good-bye gift."

"Oh, that was nice of them!" Jasmine says. "Are you sleeping outside?"

"Yeah," she nods, sitting down in the sleeping bag.

"Then Flare can stay with you! She's really warm and she won't mind," said Arcanine lies down beside Conna and puts her big head on her lap.

"I guess I'm forced to," she mutters as Jasmine goes into the tent with her other Pokémon. Conna groans quietly as her head hits her bag. "Zuka, what have I gotten myself into?"

"Twig," Shizuka lies down beside her head and the girl sighs as she falls asleep.

"Wake up, Akio! It's morning!" a cold wind makes Conna sit up fast with a gasp, looking around with messy hair and wide eyes.

"What's goin' on?" she asks before spotting Jasmine sitting under a tree, eating breakfast as all the Pokémon eat their own food. Conna glares at Grace as the Sneasel walks away with her hands behind her back, whistling innocently.

"Morning, sleepy! If you don't want to keep your friend waiting, you need to get up," Jasmine says in a too peppy voice for the morning.

"Right," Conna mutters as she slumps over, yawning widely before sitting down. Jasmine passes her a bowl with some cold soup, but Conna could care less.

"So, everyone sets out for a Pokémon journey for a reason. What's yours?" Jasmine asks after they finish.

'To go behind my mom's back and do Gym Battles while going into Contests, where we'll be rivals but you won't know it's me,' she thinks. "Gym Battles, I wanna be the next Champion."

"Cool! I want to be the greatest Contests Star in all of Sinnoh!" she clasps her hands together with twinkles in her eyes.

"You should do a good job with your team," Conna says.

"Thanks! Well, we'd better get going!" Jasmine jumps to her feet and brings down the tent in record time. Somehow.

"O-kay," Conna looks at Shizuka. "I'm going to get confused a lot, aren't I?"

The Turtwig nods and the two girls (well, one boy and one girl in Jasmine's perspective) set out for Sandgem Town. On the way, Conna battles some wild Bidoof, Starly and even the odd Kricketot, and Shizuka learns Leech Seed along the way at some point. "So, how much do you know about Contests?" Jasmine asks.

"A lot. My mom was a Star and she kept going on and on about how many wins she got, how great her team was, yada-yada-yada. Hard not to know about Contests with her as a mom," Conna sighs.

"Really? That's amazing! Are you going to be in Contests?"

'Yes, but not how you would think.' "No."

"Well, I hope you can come watch mine. Even if you're not in them, you can cheer me on! I don't know anybody here, so I might not have anyone on my side," she says, frowning slightly.

Conna winces slightly at that, if she's going to be _in_ the Contests, than she won't be able to cheer the odd Hoenn girl on. She sighs as she looks at Shizuka, who seems to know what she's thinking. "Tur-Turtwig," she inclines her head.

'Great, not even my first full day and already I'm blowing my secret, not a good start, Conna,' she thinks, closing her eyes and looking down. "Jasmine, there's something I gotta-"

"Hey Trainers!" both girls look up to see a boy and a girl come over. "We want to challenge you guys to a two-on-two battle! What do you say?"

"Do we ever!" Jasmine says, nodding.

"We do?" Conna asks and before she knows it, she and Jasmine are standing at one end of the makeshift battle field with the boy and girl, who introduced themselves as Mark and June, at the other side.

"Alright, come on out, Hitmonchan!" the boy calls and a humanoid Pokémon with big red punching bags for hands comes out, it has spikes coming out of the back of its head, lavender tank-top-like skin on its torso, brown legs and arms and small, grey feet.

"You can do it, Ursaring!" a large bear with a tan circle on its stomach comes out. Both these Pokémon make Conna's jaw drop.

"How's that fair?! I only have Shizuka, and she might be strong against a Starly or two, but we're not _nearly_ trained enough to fight you guys!" Conna yells.

"Hey, a battle's a battle, rookie, any Pokémon able to fight, fight," Mark says.

"But that's an unfair advantage! If you want to battle someone, battle someone who has Pokémon around your level! Battling a new Trainer with only one, not so much trained Pokémon is just bullying!"

"No it's not," June sings.

"Akio, calm down, if anything goes wrong, I can handle these guys," Jasmine says as she lets Louie out. "Let's win this!"

"Let's do our best, Shizuka!" Conna encourages for both herself and her Turtwig, who looks actually worried for once.

"Ursaring, Ice Punch that Turtwig!" June commands.

"What?!" Conna yells, eyes growing wide as the large bear looms over her one and only partner.

"Louie, Arial Ace one Ursaring! Don't let it hit Shizuka!" Jasmine reacts quickly and the Staravia flies up, his beak growing longer than a Peck attack, and he zooms down, hitting Ursaring in the stomach and sending it back.

"Hitmonchan, Fire Punch Turtwig," Mark says like it's nothing.

'They're only going for Shizuka, knowing that she's not trained very far,' Conna grits her teeth in rage as she clenches her fists. "Dodge and use Leech Seed!" she yells.

The Hitmonchan, however, is faster than her Grass Type and lands a hit on her. Sending her through the air and making her hit the ground hard, sending up a dust cloud. When the dust clears, Conna runs to her fallen partner who has swirls for eyes. Their first, and definitely not their last, loss. But it was an unfair loss. She's about to get to the Turtwig when the Hitmonchan comes back, ready for another Fire Punch. "Call him off! You've own already!" Conna yells.

"That Turtwig of yours looks fine to me," Mark shrugs.

"Are you insane?! Shizuka can't even get onto her feet!" Conna yells, but the Fighting Type still goes for it, its Trainer not calling back.

Not thinking, Conna runs forward, being closer to Shizuka than the Hitmonchan, and grabs her first Poké pal, holding her close as the Hitmonchan throws its punch. "Stop Hitmonchan," Mark says, not looking panicked in the least, and Conna looks up to see the fist a centimetre from her face. "Better luck next time," he says and holds out his hand.

Conna grudgingly gives him a hundred Poké Dollars and he smiles smugly before walking off, June in tow. "Bye, rookies," she smiles, a bit too sweetly, and waves with her fingers.

Jasmine comes over, Louie has been put back into his ball, and helps Conna up. "Is…is she alright?" she asks hesitantly, hand hovering over the Turtwig's mouth.

"S-she's still alive…I hope," Conna whispers the last part, bringing her first partner close. "We need to get to Sandgem, now!"

"Yep, come on, Flare can run us there faster than we can walk," Jasmine lets her Arcanine out and they get on, Jasmine behind Flare's head and Conna sitting on her back, holding onto her fur one handed as she holds Shizuka with the other. "Let's go, Flare!"

Luckily they make it to the town before sunset and rush to the Pokémon Center. Conna jumps off Flare before the Fire Type even stops, stumbles, and keeps running, not even bothering to say excuse me to the people she into. She runs to the front desk, where a nurse gives her a stern look. "Please, no running in the-"

"Can you heal my Pokémon?" Conna cuts her off, holding Shizuka up for the woman to see. "She got hit by a strong Fire Punch."

"Yes, of course," she nods and, as if they know, a Chansey comes out with a stretcher, taking Conna's starter to the back. Nerves running through her, she sits down in the corner of a small waiting area, away from everyone else, and just stares at her hands, in a shock-like state.

"I'm a horrible Trainer, only my second day and my Pokémon's already suffering," she says to herself, almost close to tears. 'Maybe…maybe mom's right…maybe I should just do…Contests.'

"Don't say that!" she looks up to see Jasmine siting on the other side of her. "You are _not_ a bad Trainer! Any bad Trainer would haven't have physically thrown themselves in the range of a Fire Punch from the punching Pokémon, you did, and that makes you great. You're name suits you, you know."

"What?" Conna blinks, surprised at the sudden change in topic.

"Akio, it means 'great hero'. Maybe your parents knew you would be something great," she says quietly.

'Or my Pokémon does,' she looks at her feet. "But…but look at her…she's-"

"Only hurt," Jasmine interrupts. "She'll be fine, Akio, you'll see her soon."

She just nods slowly and puts her head in her hands, letting out a sigh.

The next thing she knows, she hears a familiar voice. Looking up, she sees Barry talking to one of the nurses about healing his Pokémon and she goes over. "Hey Barry," she whispers, making him jump.

"Do I know you?" he asks.

"Barry, it's me," Conna pulls her sunglasses down so he can see her eyes.

"Wow, what happened to you?" he asks.

"I've already told you. Mew gave me the necklace and it does this, remember? Now, while I'm like this, call me Akio," she says quickly, making sure no one can hear her.

"Whatever, but where's Turtwig?" he asks. "You seem to be one of those people not keeping him in the Pokéball."

"Her, and she's…hurt," she looks at the back.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Chim-char?" it says slowly, most likely asking the same, he's obviously worried for his old friend.

As she explains the unfair battle, Jasmine comes over. "…And now we're here, waiting for Shizuka to get better," Conna finishes.

"That's horrible! How could they fight you even though they knew you couldn't do it?" he wonders.

"Probably doing it for some easy money," Conna mumbles angrily.

"Excuse me, are you the boy who had this Turtwig?" Conna looks over to see her starter sitting up on a stretcher, a bandage wrapped around her shell and head.

"Shizuka!" Conna smiles as she runs over. "Is she alright?"

"You've got one amazing Pokémon here, young man," the nurse says as Shizuka lets go of her calmness and jumps at Conna, making the girl catch her in her arms. "She suffered from burns, and if you hadn't gotten here when you did…" she doesn't need to continue.

"Thank you so much! You alright, Zuka?" Conna asks her partner.

"Twig!" she nods.

"Come on, we should get you to Professor Rowan's lab!" Barry says, grabbing Conna's arm and dragging her off _again_.

"Barry, I have legs ya know!" Jasmine laughs to herself as the two boys walk out of the Poké Center.

"I hope we see them again," she giggles to Flare, who nods enthusiastically, before going to the desk herself.

Gery: There we go, I'll probably have the next chapter revised now as well. So expect the fourth chapter soonish! See ya!


	3. A Pokédex and a Big City

Gery: Hi, got nothing to say, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter 2: A Pokédex and a Big City

"What are you going to do?" Barry asks as the automatic doors of the Professor's lab open.

"I think I'm going to have to tell him what I'm planning, I don't want him or Lucas to think 'Akio' stole my Pokémon," Conna says, looking at the sleeping Turtwig in her arms. Shizuka's burns are slowly healing as the center's treatment takes effect.

"Probably a safe bet," Barry nods and they walk into the lab. All sorts of machines are dotting the lab, papers are scattered everywhere, and Professor Rowan's aides are running around and chatting. The two kids spot the elderly man at the back, writing something on a clipboard.

"Um, Professor Rowan?" he turns and raises an eyebrow when he sees the two.

"Ah Barry, I'm surprised that you didn't come sooner. Who is this and why does he have Conna's Turtwig?" Rowan asks.

"I am Conna, Professor. To become a Sinnoh Champ, I need to be a boy so my mom won't suspect what I'm doing, because she wants me to be a Coordinator," Conna explains quickly. "This is the only way I can follow my dream."

"Hmm," he crosses his arms. "I've never seen such a fiery spirit in one so young. To go against your mother's wishes, but at the same time do them, it is quite a risk. You will be going through a lot of challenges by doing this, what if someone you don't want to know the secret finds out?"

"I'll think of that if it happens. Nothing's going to stop me from becoming a Champ," Conna says with a smile, Shizuka smiles too as she wakes up.

"I see I can't change your mind. You are very determined, I wish more Trainers were as passionate as you," he says and turns, not missing the girl look at her feet, embarrassed by the praise.

"Alright! This is where we part ways, Con," Barry says. "See you later!" he runs off, his Chimchar right behind him, and Rowan turns with two red devices in his hand.

"That boy…" he shakes his head, putting one of the devices down. "He can't stay still for very long, can he?"

"No, he really can't," Conna says as he passes her the other device.

"This is a Pokédex, a high-tech encyclopedia that will record the data of any Pokémon you meet. Conna, I want you to help me with my research, there is still much about Pokémon that we, as humans, don't understand. And with your dream of being a Champion, no doubt you'll be going over every inch of Sinnoh. I want you to take this with you and fill all the pages of this Pokédex. Can you do it?"

"Of course!" Conna nods as Shizuka jumps out of her arms.

"Thank you. You can register your Pokémon's nickname on this too, if you have one that is. I trust you to fill all the pages," Rowan says and Conna puts her Pokédex into her pocket before turning to the door.

"Cool, now we have more to our journey than just battles and Contests, eh Zuka?" Conna asks her starter, a small smile on her face.

She leaves the lab and bumps into somebody's back. Looking up, she sees Lucas turn and look at her funny. "Do I know you?" he asks.

"Guess," Conna smiles goofily. "Who else has a Turtwig that you know of?"

"Conna, why do you look like a guy?"

"It's so I can go into Gym Battles without my mom knowing. Anyway! I need to go and get my Trainer's Licence for 'Akio,'" she tells him before running to the Center again.

"Hello, is your Pokémon getting better?" the nurse asks with a smile.

"Yeah, she's fine. But I need to get a Trainer's Licence," Conna says, casually feeling the Trainer Card she already has in her pocket for her own name.

"Alright, just fill out this sheet and return it to me, it will only take a few minutes," she gives her the sheet and the bluenette goes to a small table.

_Name: Akio Irakih (Gery: ear-rack-ee)_

_Age: Ten_

_Hometown:_ (Conna tugs her ear, she can't put Twinleaf, it's too small and everyone will know who she is if she puts it down, so what can she put? She looks at the Poké World Map and sees a small town in Johto that should work well.) _Newbark Town_

_Pokémon League or Pokémon Contests: League_

Finishing the short sheet, Conna gets up and gives the nurse the paper. "Alright, I'll send these to Jubilife City and you can pick your Trainer Card up at the Pokémon Center there," she tells her.

"Thank you," Conna bows her head and goes outside, stretching as she looks around. They still have a few hours of daylight left, they might as well head to Jubilife now. Once they're on the Route that will lead them to the city, Conna stops. "Alright, let's get your name in here," she takes out her Pokédex and scans Shizuka.

In a beeping, robotic male voice, the Pokédex speaks, "Turtwig, the small leaf Pokémon. The shell on their backs is made of soil. To keep the soil moist, Turtwig stay close to water. Nature: Calm. Level of experience: 7. Moves known: Tackle, Withdrawal and Leech Seed. Special Ability: Overgrowth. Do you wish to insert a nickname?" two small 'yes or no' icons appear on the screen, corresponding with the button to choose. Pressing 'yes', another screen pops up and a small keyboard opens out of the side. Typing in her Turtwig's name, it beeps a few times. "Nickname Shizuka?" pressing 'yes' again, the final beeps come and go. "Official, Turtwig's name is now Shizuka."

"Well that was unexpected," Conna mutters and puts her Pokédex back. Checking her bag, she nods to herself as she takes five Pokéballs and puts them on her belt beside Shizuka's ball. "Alright, now I need to ask, do you want your nickname for battles," she holds up her left hand, "or Contests?" she holds up her right.

Shizuka looks at both hands for a few moments, before choosing battles. "Alright, so in battles you're Shizuka, in Contests you're Turtwig, is that okay?" Shizuka nods, her usually calm self being outweighed by her age, and she nudges Conna's leg. The girl laughs and bends down to Shizuka, petting her leaf. "C'mon girl, let's go."

A rustling makes leaves fall from over them and Conna looks up to see a small brown bird. A Starly. She takes out her Pokédex and it beeps, telling her the Pokémon's name and other information. "Are you ready, Zuka?" Conna yells, making the Starly look down at her.

"Twig!" Shizuka jumps forward and the Starly takes flight, but not to flee. It rushes at the Turtwig with its beak glowing, becoming longer and sharper.

'Peck,' Conna thinks. "Dodge, then use Leech Seed!"

Shizuka tries, but the Starly's faster. It catches her on the head and makes her stumble. Getting her footing again, the twig on her head shoots a seed onto the Starly's head, making vines grow around its body. The small bird just looks confused for a second before the vines around its body glow green as Shizuka does, giving her the energy from the Starly.

The Starly flies at Shizuka again, but this time she dodges and Conna tells her to use Tackle.

Suddenly a loud bang fills the trees, making the would-have-been addition to the team fly away as Shizuka comes back to Conna. "That sounded like a…a gunshot…" she gulps, starting to walk away from the noise when she spots something running in the trees, right towards her! "AHH!" she yelps as a large dragon-like Pokémon smashes the trees down. She trips and falls onto her face, her sunglasses falling off in the process, and turns to her back to see the dragon Pokémon come to a stop when it sees her. It has blue scales over its body, six spikes coming out the sides of its head, three on each side, red scales run down the front of its neck and it has large red wings. It has a grey stomach and long, sharp claws that look like they can cut through steel.

Red eyes turning to relief, the dragon puts the small baby Pokémon in its mouth on Conna's stomach, gently nudging it before taking off, covering the girl in dirt and dust as it does, and it flies away from the gunfire. Luckily enough, the dragon seems to get away and now Conna's left with a small dragon baby. She sits up just in time for the dragon to open its eyes. It looks up at Conna with soft red eyes, cooing as it looks around. It has the same blue scales as the other dragon, but the scales are a bit lighter, it has a grey, mullet-like thing on its head and is pretty tiny compared to the adult dragon.

Opening its mouth, the baby lets out a loud cry, noticing its mom is gone. "It's okay! It's okay!" Conna says, rocking the baby like she saw her mom do to one of her little cousins when her relatives visited. Like a charm, the baby slowly stops crying and just sniffles as it looks up Conna. Opening its mouth again, a small, warm light forms in the back of its throat. Coughing, a small, weak Ember hits Conna in the face and she closes her eyes before they can get irritated.

She looks at Shizuka, who's sniffing the baby curiously. "Wonder what this is?" she mutters and pets it between the eyes, making it growl lightly.

"Hey kid!" she looks up to see two people come out of the bushes, both wearing strange, white and gray spacesuits with a yellow 'G' on the chest. "Thanks for finding that Bagon, we'll be taking it now," the man says.

"The Salamence mother was too injured to care for both her and her young, so she left it with some boy?" the woman wonders, looking Conna over, "And a boy who's obviously a rookie?"

"What do you want with this…uh, Bagon?" Conna demands, bringing the dragon close for protection.

"In case you couldn't tell, Rookie, that Salamence was very powerful. To have that kind of power on our team, nothing can stop us!" the woman laughs shrilly.

"So, you want this baby, just so you can have power?" Conna glares, stepping back.

"Of course, why else would we be after it?" the man rolls his eyes as if she was stupid and reaches for the Pokéball at his belt.

"Shizuka, we need to keep this baby away from them at all cost!" she says, the Turtwig nods determinedly.

The man laughs and sends out…a blob? Conna blinks at it and tries to scan it, but her Pokédex only says 'no data available' and she puts it back. The 'blob' is a dark purple colour and constantly drips, it has two big eyes in it and it opens a hole for a mouth. Weird. "Alright, ready Zuka?"

"Turtwig!" she nods, hitting the ground with her foot and snorting.

"You really want to fight us? Alright kid, you asked for it," the woman sends out a pink Pokémon with yellow stripes on its belly, its tongue is sticking out. "This will be too easy. Lickitung, use Body Slam!" the woman commands.

The Pokémon, identified as Lickitung, runs forward and jumps into the air, spreading out its body. "Shizuka, dodge quickly!" Conna cries, but her small starter doesn't get a chance as she's knocked back and lands at Conna's feet, knocked out from the hit to Conna's despair.

"Ahahaha!" the woman and man laugh as Conna returns her Turtwig. "You really thought you had a chance, Rookie?" the man chuckles, wiping a tear from his eye.

"With only a puny Turtwig, I bet you won't be able to make it to even the next town!" the woman puts in.

"Grr, why you! Shizuka's stronger than you think! And who do you think you are anyway? Attacking a mother Salamence and her baby like that!" Conna demands, glaring.

"If you really must know, I am Rudy," the man says, looking at the disguised girl with vivid green eyes.

"And I am Tanya," the woman says, whipping her sun blonde hair over her shoulder. "And now, we'll be taking that Bagon!"

"Grimer, use Sludge!" Rudy orders his blob, which he calls a Grimer, and its stomach bulges before it spits out a black ball of grimy water. Conna, not thinking, takes out a Pokéball and taps the Bagon's head, sending it inside with the usual red beam. Doing this, the Sludge misses Bagon, but hits her in the face, blinding her as she cries out in pain.

"Ahg!" she falls to the ground, hearing the click of her capture as the Pokéball stops shaking in her hand.

"Heh, that was sure stupid, Rookie," she hears the man as he walks over. Trying to wipe the Sludge off, Conna gets to her feet and puts her new Pokémon in her pocket, since she can't find her belt.

"Now stop being idiotic and give us that Bagon!" Tanya walks over to Conna and picks her up by the back of her jacket, eyes narrowing. 'Why does this boy looks so familiar? His hair is spiky, a dark blue with cold icy blue colour an inch off the tips and down, and his face, I've seen it before, I know I have.'

Shaking her head, Tanya tightens her grip on the boy. "Give us the Bagon. Now!" she orders, starting to reach into his pocket.

"No!" he yells, kicking her in the face. She drops the boy and he runs off blind, crashing into branches and bushes in his haste to get away. "Oops, looks like someone forgot their sunglasses," she picks them up, breaking them in half. "He won't need these. C'mon, we need to get that Bagon."

"Ow ow ow ow ow," Conna grits her teeth as branch after branch hits her in the face. She trips over something and falls on her face, yelping when she lands in a puddle. She gasps and shakes her head, able to open her eyes into slits. "Well it's something," she mutters, getting to her hands and knees. She wipes her eyes with her arm and she manages to get the sticky sludge off of her face.

She reaches into her pocket and takes out the Pokéball with the baby Bagon. "What about your mom?" she whispers, letting the dragon out. It yawns widely as it stretches, looking up at Conna as it sticks its tail in its mouth, sucking on it. Smiling, Conna picks the Pokémon up and cradles it, making it coo and snuggle into her for warmth.

A low growl alerts her of something watching her from behind. Slowly turning her head, Conna comes face-to-face with the very same Salamence that was being chased. "I-I, uh, I have you baby," she stammers, holding out the Bagon. It reaches for its mother with small claws and the Salamence nudges it with her head as Conna puts it down.

"There, all's good now, right?" Conna says, standing up. She feels something grab the back of her shirt and she's pulled back into the Salamence's shoulder, where it nudges her in a hug. "Uh, you're welcome?" she says, uncertain about what to do. Salamence noses the Pokéball in her hand. "Okay, I'll destroy it so you can-" she's cut off when Salamence shakes her head. "You…you mean you want me to take your baby?" Conna asks, blinking in shock.

Salamence nods, looking down sadly at Bagon, who's waddling around the two and rubbing its head on Conna's leg. Growling, Salamence bends her head down and talks to Bagon. The baby looks up at Conna, then its mom, then Conna again and chirps, jumping into her arms.

"If you really want me to, I'll take good care of your baby, Salamence," she promises. The dragon nods and flies off, covering the girl in dust in her wake. After coughing, she sighs and looks around, not sure where she is. "Oh boy, I think we're lost," she mutters, bringing Shizuka out. The injured Turtwig looks around in a daze and Conna bends down, pulling out a potion. "Here, this will help," she says, spraying the bottle.

"Twig," Shizuka winces for a second before sighing, her worst injuries vanishing.

"Zuka, meet Bagon, the newest addition to our team," Conna puts Bagon on the ground, letting the baby look at Shizuka as it sits.

"Tur Turtwig, twig Tur, twig," Shizuka sticks out her foot, smiling at Bagon.

"Gon gon," it babbles and bites forward, but Shizuka moves her foot out of the way before she can get hurt.

"Turtwig! Tur!" Shizuka scolds, making Bagon pout.

"Alright, let's get to Jubilife. That's where our first Contest is going to be," Conna says, standing up and starting to walk. That's when Bagon lets out a wail and makes her cringe. She goes back to the baby and pats its head. "What?" it just keeps crying. "I forgot it was a baby," she groans, picking it up. "Come on, come on. Be quite, it's okay."

"Turtwig," Shizuka sighs, she can tell her Trainer isn't experienced with babies. "Tur twig, Tur!" she says, tapping Conna's leg.

"What is it?" Conna asks before Bagon bites her arm. "AHH!" she yells, falling back and trying not to fling her arm around in case she hurts the baby. "I'm not food!" Bagon lets go and hops up and down, clapping. "Huh? Oh, you're hungry!" Shizuka face-palms, she keeps forgetting that Conna's only ten.

"Uh…what do baby dragons eat, anyway?" she asks, pulling out some sandwiches her mom made. "Do you like bread?" she asks, taking off the first layer. Bagon shakes its head. "Uh…cheese?" shakes head again. "Lettuce?" it sticks its tongue out in disgust. "Ham?"

"Bagon!" it cries and bites down on the meat, making Conna recoil her hand before she loses her fingers.

"Note to self: baby Bagon likes meat," she mutters, eyes slightly wide.

She digs inside her bag and pulls out another sandwich, taking out the ham on it and giving it to Bagon. "Alright, let's see if I can scan you," she mutters, pulling out her Pokédex.

"No data available, Pokémon not native to Sinnoh," it beeps.

"Great, can you at least tell me its moves?" she mutters.

"Unknown Pokémon: no description found. Nature: Naïve. Level of experience: one. Moves known: Ember, Fire Fang and Leer. Special Ability: Rock Head. Gender: Female. Do you wish to insert a nickname?" it beeps.

"What do you think we should name her?" Conna asks Shizuka.

"Tur Turtwig, twi twig tur," she says.

"Um…yeah…what should we name her?" Conna smiles sheepishly as Shizuka sweat-drops.

_She said 'name her Sky'_, the voice makes Conna get to her feet and look around, her Pokédex still beeping "insert name?"

Blinking a few times, she looks at Shizuka. "Did you hear that?" the Turtwig just gives her an odd look before she shakes her head. "Okay, um, yes," she presses the 'yes' icon and types in Bagon's new name. "Alright, so from now on, you're Sky, alright?" Conna says, patting Sky's head. "Wait, the Pokédex said you knew Fire Fang, and only at level one, how's that possible?"

"Some Pokémon can learn moves from its parents when born, these are called 'Egg Moves', which cannot me learned normally by the Pokémon species," the Pokédex beeps.

"Oh…" Conna mutters, putting her Pokédex away and standing up, looking at the sky. "It's starting to get dark. We'll make it to Jubilife in the morning," she says and sits down, taking out her sleeping bag. After setting it up, she eats cold soup, since she can't make a fire, and settles into her bag, Shizuka and Sky snuggling into her, Sky sucking on her tail cutely. "Night guys," she yawns, going to take off her sunglasses when she realizes she doesn't have the on. "Oh no. I'll need to get a pair the moment I step foot in Jubilife. Hopefully no one notices the 'boy' with different coloured eyes," she turns over and shivers at the memories of all the teasing she received for her eyes when she was a little kid.

-Dream-

"_Hahahaha! Why are you even here, freak?" a bigger girl pushed a smaller Conna down, making tears run down her red cheeks._

"_St-stop it!" she begged, wiping her eyes with her arm._

"_Aw, is little freak too cowardly to stand up for herself?" the girl mocked, tugging young Conna's short, spiky, ice blue hair._

"_I'm not a coward! I'm brave!" Conna yelled, getting to her feet and sniffling._

"_Brave people don't cry," the older girl smirked._

"_Hey!" they turned their heads to see the new boy standing there, frowning at the bully. "Leave her alone! What she ever do to you?" he asked, standing beside Conna._

"_That little freak shouldn't be around. Just look at her!" the bully said and the boy looked at Conna's face, seeing her deep blue right eye and icy blue left eye looking back at him. _

"_I don't see anything wrong," he finally said, looking back at the bully and not missing the happy smile cross over Conna's face._

"_Humph, go ahead, stick up for the freak," the bully huffed, storming away like the brat she was._

"_Thank you," Conna said, the smile never leaving her face. "Nobody's ever stood up for me before."_

"_Don't worry about it," the boy waved it off, smiling back. "I'm Barry, I just moved here from the Kanto Region with my mom."_

"_I'm Conna, I've lived here my whole life with my mom," Conna smiled, hearing the faint accent of the boy's old home. "Wanna be friends?"_

"_I wouldn't have come over if I didn't," he replied. "Come on! I'll race you to the swings!" he said and the two ran off towards the swing set, laughing all the way._

-End Dream-

The sun peeks through the tree branches as it rises in the sky, managing to hit Conna's eyes and waking the girl up. She squints her eyes open and smiles fondly at the memory/dream. That had happened three years ago, when she and Barry were seven. She still can't believe her luck in having her first friend.

She turns her head to Shizuka, who's breathing gently, before turning to look at Sky, who's snuggled into her side with her mouth slightly open. Smile growing, she sits up slowly and looks around as the last of the night sounds fade as the birds start to chirp in greeting to the morning. She stretches her arms and rubs her eyes from sleep, yawning as she pets both her Pokémon.

After waking her Pokémon, feeding a crying Sky, and getting everything packed, Conna and her Pokémon head out, Sky sleeping in her Pokéball and Shizuka walking beside her. "Before we get there, we should train a bit more, eh girl?" she asks.

"Turtwig," Shizuka nods.

After searching for a few minutes, they find a Bidoof and, after Conna scans it for data, Shizuka easily knocks it out. It wakes on its own and runs off, probably in search for berries to heal itself. On their way to the city, Conna gets Shizuka up two levels, and uses the last of her potions on her starter. "Alright, good job, Zuka," Conna smiles proudly as they see the city sign. They've finally made it to Jubilife. "Alright, we'll need to get sunglasses, more supplies, and I'll need to change back to normal so I can register into the Contests after getting my League Licence," she says to herself as she lowers her head, making sure no one will be able to see her face.

"Hey, C-Akio!" she looks up to see Lucas waving as he comes over. "Nice to see you made it. Did you catch any Pokémon on the way?"

"Yeah, I caught a Bagon," she says, smirking a little when she sees Lucas' eyes go wide. "Yeah, it's mom was being chased, and I guess she wanted her baby to be safe, so she let me take her."

"Wow, but Bagon aren't common here," he scratches the back of his head.

"I know, my Pokédex won't register her information, but I got enough to know about her. I named her Sky." She decides it wouldn't be best to tell him about the voice she heard, there's no telling what could happen.

"Well, come on. Turtwig seems tired," Lucas says and they walk to the Pokémon Center.

"Her name's Shizuka, but I just call her Zuka," Conna says, walking to the front desk. "Excuse me, I'm Akio Irakih, I signed up for my Trainer Card at Sandgem Town."

"Okay, just give me a second…" the nurse types something down on her computer. "Here we go," she hands her the Trainer Card, a picture of 'Akio' beside the basic information.

"How'd you get my picture?" she asks.

"We take pictures from the security cameras of new trainers who come in," the nurse explains as Conna blinks at her card. "Anything else?"

"Yes," she puts her Pokémon on the counter and the nurse takes them. As her Pokémon heal, she walks over to where Lucas is looking at the map of Sinnoh. "Do you know where I can buy sunglasses?"

"Why?" Lucas asks, looking at her.

"To hide my eyes," she says.

"Okay, there's a mall not far from here, you can get sunglasses just outside the first store."

"Thanks," Conna nods before going back to get her Pokémon and letting them both out. "Alright, let's go get some things," she says and starts walking, picking up Sky on the way. "Shizuka, I don't think Sky can go into any Contests." The Turtwig nods, understanding why. "When we get to the Elite Four, we'll be on TV, and if both me and Akio have rare Pokémon, the jig will be up," she finishes, coming to a crosswalk.

Going passed, she comes to the real part of the city, which is absolutely huge. To the girl, who's from a tiny town that has nothing spectacular, this comes as a shock. Thinking it for the best, she returns Sky and looks at Shizuka. "You wanna return? I don't want to lose you here," she looks around as more and more cars and people come out.

Shizuka nods and Conna returns her, relived that she won't have to worry about either of her Pokémon. She starts walking just as a large group of people come out of the building beside her, pushing her around and yelling at her to move. "Get outta the way, boy!" a rather large man knocks her over and steps on her hand as he walks over her, making her cry out in pain.

She pulls her hand into her stomach as she tries to get up, but people keep pushing her down and telling her it's _her_ fault, and not one of them tries to help her, until… "Akio!" the voice yells as she feels someone grab her arm and help her up. "Are you alright?" Conna looks up to see Jasmine's worried face.

"Uh, yeah, just my hand," she says, clenching her hand as feeling starts to come back. "I'm fine. When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago. Are you sure you're alright? Where's Shizuka?"

"She's in her Pokéball, so I don't lose her. I've never been in a city like this before," Conna looks around.

"I've noticed. I've been in quite a few big cities in Hoenn. Where are you heading?"

"I need to get sunglasses and supplies," Conna says, making sure Jasmine can't see her eyes very well.

"How come?"

"The sun doesn't like me."

"Oh, come on then! I know where the mall is!" she grabs Conna's hand and drags her off, blabbing on and on about how excited she is for the Contest. "It's going to be held in two weeks, can you come and watch me?" she asks.

Guilt swamps Conna as she says, "I can't. I'm going to Oreburgh City to get my first Badge. I'm not sure if I'll make it."

"Here's a deal, why not I come with you to Oreburgh and watch you fight the Gym Leader, and you come back with me and watch my Contest?" Jasmine smiles, making Conna's stomach knot up.

'What will I do? Soon enough she'll catch up on my lie, and if she comes with me, there's no way I can keep my secret from her. But if I don't let her come, she'll ask me why, and I don't have a reason other than to keep my secret safe,' Conna thinks quickly, but comes up with nothing.

They come to the mall and Conna lets out Shizuka, who shakes herself. "Sorry, Zuka," the Turtwig just waves it off and she goes to the sunglasses rack. She finds a simple black pair and puts them on, they fit perfectly. Smiling at her luck, she buys them and comes out to find Jasmine putting a red bow on Shizuka's twig, and the Grass Type doesn't like it one bit. "Um, Jasmine? What are you doing to Shizuka?"

"Oh, I was just seeing if she liked the bow, apparently not," she giggles and takes it off, putting it in her pocket. "So, you never answered my question, can I come with you?"

Conna takes in a deep breath, here goes nothing. "Jasmine, I got something to tell you," she takes the girl's hand and they leave the mall.

"What?!" Jasmine yells as they sit outside a restraint.

"Shh, be quite, alright?" Conna pleads.

"So, I can't come with you, because you found a baby Bagon and don't want to bother me by asking me everything about baby Pokémon?" Jasmine clarifies the lie.

"Yep," Conna nods.

"That will be no problem! I raised Flare from an egg, I know how to handle baby Pokémon," she smiles. Conna looks at Shizuka, who gives her a stern, but encouraging look.

'She's gunna hate me for telling the truth now,' Conna sucks in a breath and exhales slowly. Shizuka kicks her leg. "Alright, alright, I'm going to," she says through gritted teeth. "Jasmine, that's not-"

She's interrupted by an explosion, and voices shouting. "Someone's stealing from the Pokétch Company!" a man yells, pointing to a large building two streets away.

"Come on!" Conna says, running to the building without thinking. Jasmine runs after her with Stanley by her side and Shizuka jumps onto Conna's shoulder, somehow balancing herself. The crowd in front of the building grows huge, and soon the two girls are pushing through the people, trying to get to the front. Conna comes up to a policeman and asks him what's going on.

"We're not sure, but we suspect that the thieves in there are trying to steal some Pokétch supplies," he explains.

"Pokétch?" Conna asks.

"It's a kind of Poké watch that's very popular right now," Jasmine says, lifting her hand to show a red Pokétch. "They can be very helpful."

"Why would someone want to steal them? Couldn't they just buy them?" Conna asks, confused.

"They aren't exactly cheap, and maybe they just want the technology, not the Pokétchs themselves," Jasmine says, looking at the building.

Conna looks up, wondering what's really going on in there, when she sees something blue dash behind the policeman. She'd recognize that long tail anywhere. "Mew?" she breaths quietly to herself before going under the police line and running into the building.

"Hey! Get that boy away from there!" a policewoman yells, but Conna's already inside.

"Mew?!" she calls, walking down the halls of the large building, her voice echoing as she walks around some debris. "Are you here?"

"Twig?" Shizuka asks.

"I met Mew the other day, it helped me decide what I should do. And I think I just saw it, it was a shiny," she explains. When she hears voices, she stops in her tracks and hides in a nearby crate with Shizuka. She looks out a small hole in the side to see the man and lady who tried to hurt Salamence and Sky.

"Did you hear something?" Rudy asks, looking around.

"Yes, it sounded a lot like that Rookie that got away with the Bagon," Tanya says. "Lickitung, come out and help us look for the boy!"

"Tung!" it cries. It spots the crate and goes over, looking into the hole that Conna's looking out of. She backs up but the crate is kicked over and she tumbles out, hitting the wall with her back as she hits it upside-down. Small Starly circle her head for a few seconds before she falls and sits up, rubbing her head.

"So it is you," Tanya picks her up by her shirt like last time. "Listen Rookie, you don't want to mess with us! It will mean big trouble for you!"

Grunting, Conna goes to kick her again, but Tanya throws her to the ground, stepping on her chest to keep her down. "You wanted to do that again? Cute. Now have you reconsidered giving us that Bagon yet?"

"You won't take her!" Conna snaps. "Shizuka, bite her!"

The Turtwig complies and bites Tanya in the butt, much like a guard Houndoom does when its home is invaded. But since it isn't the actual move Bite, all it does it make Tanya drop Conna and let her stand up. "You're the ones who blew up this place, aren't you?"

"Yes, and in a few moments, the last explosion will go off and this whole building will collapse," Rudy says, letting his Grimer out just in case.

"Why? And what use do you have for the Pokétchs?" Conna demands.

"Not the flimsy watches, it's the way they're made that we're after. But we aren't going to give that away to a rookie. Grimer, use Sludge," Rudy commands.

"Not this time," Conna narrows her eyes. "Let's do our best, Zuka! We can't let them take what isn't there's!"

"Turtwig!" she agrees and jumps away from the attack.

"Use Tackle, Zuka!"

"Lickitung, Body Slam!" Tanya yells.

Shizuka manages to land a hit on Lickitung, but it's Body Slam is more powerful and sends her back into Conna, making her slam into the wall. "Zuka!" Conna looks down at the fainted Pokémon.

"You're still a Rookie!" Rudy laughs.

"You aren't going to take anything!" Conna yells, standing up as she holds Shizuka.

"How will you stop us, Rookie?" Tanya smirks.

"Flamethrower!"

"Arca-nine!" a long stream of fire comes from the other hall. Conna looks over to see Jasmine standing there, a smile on her face as Flare growls at the two people.

"You have no idea how hard it was to get in here," she laughs as she comes to Conna's side. "Who are these guys?"

"Some jerks who were after Sky's mom, now they're trying to blow this place us," Conna explains.

"Just because you have a friend now, doesn't mean you'll win, Rookie," Tanya sneers.

"Shizuka's knocked out, and all I have is Sky, who isn't experienced," Conna whispers.

"You go and find the bomb, make sure it doesn't blow. I can handle these losers," Jasmine tells her.

Nodding, Conna runs off as Jasmine lets her other three Pokémon out. "You want a battle? We'll give you a battle!"

'Where can that bomb be?' Conna wonders as she wanders around the halls, starting to get lost and frustrated. 'At this rate, the entire building will be destroyed.'

"Tur…" Shizuka wakes up, looking around.

"We need to find the bomb, but I don't know where it is," Conna says. Suddenly, Sky brakes out of her Pokéball and runs down a hall, making Conna gasp. "Sky! Get back here!" and she runs after the little Bagon.

She finds the baby scratching and biting at a stack of dynamite. "Gah! Stomp it out! Stomp it out!" Conna says as Shizuka pushes Sky away from the explosive. Conna tries to rip the fuse out, but she can't do it. Looking around, she panics and starts running, trying to find a way to put it out.

"Turtwig!" Shizuka puts her foot up, sliding in front of Conna. "Turtwig tur!"

"Right, stay calm, stay calm," Conna tells herself, closing her eyes. She feels something tug her pant leg and looks down as Shizuka points to a window. The girl opens the window and looks out to find nobody around. Here it goes. She throws the dynamite as far as she can, hoping it won't hurt anybody. It stops in midair, however, and a certain shiny Legendary is holding it. Smiling, it takes the fuse out and drops the now useless stick into a trashcan. It waves widely before going invisible once more and leaving. "…Mew…" Conna sighs after a few moments, "thank you."

She and her Pokémon head back to where they left Jasmine, and find that she's alone, smirking triumphantly as she hugs Stanley. "You alright, Jasmine?" Conna asks.

"Yep, they all did great. And I sent those two packing!" Jasmine winks.

Conna gives a small smile, but it is obviously forced. "What's wrong? You got rid of the bomb, didn't you?"

"Dynamite, and yeah, I did, but…" she trails off.

"But what?"

"Jasmine…can…can you help me train? I realize my Pokémon aren't strong enough to fight even some weirdly dressed people, me and my team need to all get stronger, so…can you help me?" Conna looks up at the older girl.

Jasmine smiles softly, "Of course, Akio. Does this mean…?"

"Yeah, I'd like you to travel with me," Conna nods slightly.

"Great!" Jasmine suffocates her in a hug. "We can get stronger and grow together! And maybe you can help me build my confidence back up for my Contests! This will be amazing!"

"Yeah…amazing," Conna mumbles as Jasmine lets go, walking away happily. The young girl looks away, sighing in guilt and looking at her two Pokémon. "Did I do the right thing?"

Shizuka nods firmly while Sky spins around, oblivious to everything around her. "I sure hope you're right, Zuka. I really hope you're right."

Gery: Well, that wasn't too tedious. Anyway, I have nothing to say, so…See ya!


	4. To Oreburgh City We Go!

To Orangen: Yeah, I love having my newly evolved Salamence on my team. And it's a mystery to even me about how Jasmine reacts;)

Gery: I am so so so so so so so (three hours later) so so _so_ sorry for the months late update. I misplaced my game so I couldn't get my motivation up. But I found it! So nothing to worry about! Enjoy the late chapter!

Chapter 3: To Oreburgh City We Go!

After healing their Pokémon, the two trainers are about to head out of the city when a man in a brown business suit runs up, making them jump. "You two, you're the kids who went into the Pokétch building and stopped the bomb, correct?" he asks.

"Yeah," Jasmine nods slowly.

"I thought so. When I was investigating by the door, you ran passed me. What I'm curious about is why you ran in," he looks at Conna.

"Uh…" what can she say? 'I saw a shiny Mew fly in there?' "I just had a bad feeling."

"Interesting, not many people can tell when something so bad is about to happen," the man says thoughtfully, putting a hand on his chin. "My name's Looker, I work with the police on investigations. Have you heard of the saying 'Don't steal'?"

"Yeah, from my mom," Conna nods and Shizuka rolls her eyes at her Trainer.

"Good. Well, there seems to be a group of people who don't follow that saying. I have been helping the police for a while now, but we've had no real luck. If you find anything suspicious, will you inform me if we meet again?" Looker asks. The two girls look at each other and, as if both knowing what the other is thinking, nod at Looker. The man smiles, "Thank you. The more help, the better. But I trust that you two don't do anything too dangerous, like going after them yourselves."

"Don't have to worry about that," Conna says.

"Oh! Before I forget, here," Looker holds out his hand and Conna sees a blue Pokétch. "The owner of the Pokétch Company wanted me to give you this for saving his building. Normally you would have to go around the city and find three clowns and answer their questions correctly, then spend about ten thousand Pokédollars, but since you saved the company, he thought you should just have it."

Conna sighs in relief, clowns make her uncomfortable and she doesn't want to get lost in this big city or lose that much money. She takes the Pokétch from Looker and straps it on her left wrist, turning it so the screen faces her. The time is already set on the green, pixel-like screen and a small, darker green Pikachu is coming from the bottom left corner of the screen. There is a white face around the screen and two red buttons on the right side of the Pokétch, and a black line disconnects on the screen before going around and becoming the strap. Pressing one of the buttons, Conna sees the screen change to a calculator, then a memo pad, a rectangle-like shape with five zeros inside it and a square with a 'C' on it under the zeros, and finally she sees her two Pokémon with little bars under their sprites, probably their health. "Wow, neat little watch," Conna says, impressed.

"If you're curious about the fourth screen, it records how many steps you take," Jasmine says. "And this isn't the end of it, you can get more pages for your Pokétch, like a map and an item detector."

"Really?" Conna shrugs and lowers her hand, looking up to thank Looker, but finds that the man is already gone. "He was really strange."

"Yeah, but wasn't it nice of him to give you that? Now let's go! We need to get to Oreburgh City!" Jasmine smiles brightly and the two start walking, leaving the large city behind.

"Do you know what types of Pokémon the Gym Leader uses?" Conna asks.

"No. But we'll find out. Now, before we go, we need to settle some ground rules," Jasmine stops and turns to Conna, putting her hands on her hips.

"Okay," Conna looks at Shizuka, who is on her shoulder, and the grass turtle shrugs.

"First off: To not spend more money than we have to, we'll rent a two person bedroom at a Pokémon Center, you must always knock before entering. Second: If, for any reason, you need to go somewhere, tell me. I don't want to have a panic attack. And lastly: We come to each other if we need help. Understand?" in the short time she has known her, Conna has never seen Jasmine act this serious.

"Um, yeah, sure."

Jasmine smiles, "Good. Alright, let's get Shizuka and Sky stronger! Come on out guys!" she calls out her other three Pokémon and her smile grows. "We're going to help Akio train his Pokémon. So we'll give it our all!"

"Okay, we'll train up Sky, since she's a baby, she needs to become experienced the most," Jasmine says as she stands beside Conna and the young girl sends out her Bagon. "Flare, Headbutt that tree over there!" Jasmine points at a tree beside a small pond and the Arcanine runs at it, smashing her head into the trunk. The entire tree shutters, and a Pokémon falls out. It's a Kricketot, and Conna smiles. Sky knows fire moves!

"Sky, use Ember on Kricketot!" Conna says. The Bagon looks at the bug Pokémon and chirps before taking a deep breath and sending Ember at Kricketot. It hits it, but does little damage. The Kricketot takes it and curls up a bit, glowing. Why isn't it attacking? "Sky, use Fire Fang!" Jasmine raises an eyebrow. An Egg Move? Sky's father must have been a Charizard or something. But Sky doesn't listen, she gets distracted by a Starly flying overhead, a longing look in her eyes. "Sky?" Conna bends down, tapping the baby's head. Sky looks at her new 'Mama' with tears welling on the edges of her eyes before bawling.

Jasmine covers her ears as Conna freaks out, picking up the dragon and rocking her, but it doesn't help, if anything, it makes Sky cry even more. "Calm down, what's wrong?"

Then, like yesterday, the voice enters Conna's head. _She wishes to fly. It's every Bagon's dream to soar high in the blue sky and travel all around, free of every bound the binds them to the earth._

Conna blinks. "She wants to fly?" she looks down at Sky, who's still crying. Shizuka looks at Conna, wondering why the girl blanked out for a moment. Conna gasps, coming up with an idea. "Louie! Come over here!" she yells at the Staravia hiding in a tree. He shakes his head, not wanting to be near the baby. He's been near enough baby Pokémon for a good, long lifetime. "Please?" the bluenette asks. Louie looks away stubbornly. Tired with her fellow teammate being a pansy, Grace shoots him with Icy Wind and Louie screeches before flying off and landing beside his Trainer's friend. Even a baby Pokémon is better than an Icy Wind from Grace.

"Alright, Sky, you're going on a little flight," Conna puts Sky on Louie's back as the Bagon slowly, very slowly to everyone but Conna and Shizuka, calms down and is just sniffling. "'Kay, Louie, can you circle around us for a bit?"

Finally understanding what she wants, Louie nods and takes flight, gently flying with Sky holding onto his feathers. In no less than five seconds, Sky is roaring with delight, feeling the wind rushing at her. Conna smiles, proud of herself for coming up with that idea. Her smile is wiped off her face when she sees another Staravia flying over, eyes locked on Sky. "Not good. Louie! Get back here!" Jasmine cups her hands over her mouth so that her bird can hear her. Although he doesn't hear her, Louie catches a glance of brown feathers out of the corner of his eye and turns his head to see the wild Staravia coming down on him, its beak glowing with an Arial Ace. He dives, careful not to throw Sky off, but they are sent towards the earth by the wild Staravia's Whirlwind attack.

"Sky!"

"Louie!" the two girls run for their Pokémon, luckily catching them before they hit the ground. While Conna and Shizuka try to calm Sky, Jasmine sends Stanley into battle. "Use Thundershock!"

The Elekid charges up his power, a small spark of electricity jumping from the plug-like antenna on his head, and the air crackles slightly as he sends a small lightning bolt at the bird, striking it. Staravia breaks through the attack and Tackles Stanley, sending him back. He flips in mid-air and lands on his feet, ready to finish the battle. "Finish it off with Take Down!"

Recklessly, Stanley runs at Staravia and takes it to the ground, knocking it out and making swirls form in its eyes. Stanley smirks smugly, ignoring the injury on the left of his forehead. When the Staravia wakes, it takes one glance at the Elekid before taking off, clumsily flying away. "Wonder why it attacked us," Conna says, standing as she feeds Sky with a milk bottle she got at a store.

"We're probably in its territory, Staravia don't like strangers very much," Jasmine says as she sprays Stanley with a Potion. "Now, let's get back to training Sky."

For the next hour, the 'training' consisted of playing games with Sky. Like hide-and-seek for her observance, which is easily lost, tag for building her endurance and speed up, and one that Conna dislikes very much, which is tying some meat onto her belt and running from the Bagon, getting bitten, burned and both bitten and burned. The joys of life.

"Oww, how is this training?" Conna whines as Jasmine puts a Band-Aide on her cheek, making her wince.

"Since we scared off all the Pokémon in the area, we're doing the next best thing. I did the same with Flare," Jasmine cleans a bite mark on Conna's arm, making Conna bite her lip as her skin stings. She looks at Sky, who is curled up and sucking on her tail, looking at her with innocent eyes. Shizuka is sitting beside Conna, getting a bandage wrapped around her head from Stanley, she looks very unpleased.

"Sorry, Zuka. I didn't know that she would change targets just because I ran passed you," Conna says sheepishly as her Turtwig gives her a soft glare.

"I think you're just lucky I raised Flare from an egg," Jasmine says. "She bit and burned me like Sky's doing to you."

"Well there's that," she mutters as Jasmine puts the Band-Aids away. "So, how long will I have to keep up with this training?"

"Not long, maybe a week at most. Pokémon tend to mature far faster than humans, through battles and evolving. In no time, Sky will be training normally. Now, let's train up Shizuka, she needs the practice too," Jasmine stands and dusts off her skirt. "We'll battle each other, Stanley vs. Shizuka, since Stanley's not that much of a higher level." The Elekid huffs and crosses his arms, not wanting to get his pride down. "You go over there, and I'll stay here."

"Okay," they stand on opposite ends with their Pokémon in front of them. "Let's do our best, Zuka!"

"Turtwig!"

"Time to show our stuff. Stanley, start off with Tackle!" Jasmine says.

Stanley runs at Shizuka and rams his shoulder into her, since Conna has no time to react. "Oops. Zuka, use Leech Seed!"

The seed latches onto Stanley's head and grows, covering his head in a sort of vine-like hat. "Tackle again!"

"Quick, use Withdrawal!"

Shizuka brings up the blue shell and Stanley tackles, sending Shizuka back, but with little damage done. "Absorb!" Shizuka lowers her defence and runs forward, opening her mouth to take Stanley's energy. Combined with the Leech Seed, Stanley takes more damage than Jasmine would like.

"Use Brick Break while Shizuka's guard is down!" The Elekid brings his arm back and sends it forward, smashing Shizuka right on the head and sending her back. While the move itself doesn't do much, Shizuka smashes into a tree, getting pretty bad injuries.

"You okay, Zuka?" Conna asks.

"Tur…" Shizuka gets to her feet shakily with a groan. She glows a bit before the glowing fades and Conna looks at Stanley to see that he ripped the Leech Seed off. Now they are getting in trouble.

'Shizuka's exhausted, and Stanley might be weakened, but he's not nearly as tired her. What can we do? We're at such a lower level than Jasmine's team, and I can't switch Sky in, she's tired too. What can we do? Our moves are limited to the weakest of the bunch, and it doesn't matter that Electric and Grass types are neutral against each other. Aw man.'

"Okay, um, use…Absorb," Conna says, unsure of herself. Shizuka attacks, but Stanley dodges and lands farther away before coming at Shizuka.

"Finish this off with Take Down!" Stanley charges, and Conna speaks without meaning to.

"Zuka, let him hit you!" the command stuns everyone and Shizuka looks at Conna, wondering what she's planning. Jasmine can hardly believe that Shizuka is actually listening to Conna. This early on together, you'd think the Turtwig wouldn't trust her trainer nearly as much.

Stanley keeps running and jumps at Shizuka, bringing her down and sending dust up. When the dust is cleared by the wind, Jasmine and Conna are both surprised to see each of their Pokémon knocked out, swirls in their eyes. Worried, they run over and help their Pokémon up, Conna regretting what she did. "You alright, Zuka?" she asks, holding her partner. "I'm sorry."

"Twig," Shizuka shakes her head as she wakes up.

-Later that Evening-

They sit around a campfire that Flare started, warming some soup as they keep silent, lost in thought. Conna's staring into the fire, feeling downcast. Yet another loss. And Shizuka had been so close to winning. What happened?

'I'm a bad trainer, that's what,' Conna thinks, becoming gloomier. Shizuka nudges her leg, saying that she forgives her, but Conna doesn't even feel her, too deep in her thoughts to register anything.

Jasmine frowns at Akio, he looks so troubled, and he won't stop staring into the fire, as if it will tell him something. She guesses she can understand, Akio's seemed to have lost every battle he's fought in. That's enough to damper any rookie's mood. But she wasn't about to let him sulk forever. "Alright, get up," Jasmine orders, shaking Akio out of his thoughts.

He looks up at her and blinks from behind his sunglasses, coming out of his daze. "We're going for a walk," she takes his arm and hulls him up, ignoring his protests. Shizuka and Stanley look at each other as the other Pokémon lie down, knowing their trainers need to be alone to talk. The Elekid and Turtwig run after them, curious about what's going on.

"Akio, what do you think being a trainer is?" Jasmine asks as some Kricketot and Kricketune chirp. Conna looks down, thinking it over. What did she think about that? "Alright, I'll help you. Do you think it's about having the strongest or fastest Pokémon?"

"No."

"Do you think it's about winning every battle, and becoming good at battling over two nights?"

"No, but that'd be nice," Conna mutters the last part, but Jasmine hears her and frowns before hitting her over the back of the head. "Hey, what was that for?"

"That's what I'm trying to get into your head, Akio. No one becomes great overnight. No trainer out there can be good their first few battles. In that time, you're still learning your Pokémon's skills and how they fight and your own strategy, and you grow together in that time to create a bond. You should have seen me when I started a year ago, I only had Flare and she was a low-leveled Growlithe pup. I didn't win any Contests until a month after I started. By that time, I had Grace with me and Louie was sent over as a Starly from my uncle because he was proud of me. It takes time to get used to the world and how it works, Akio. And never ever feel like you're a bad trainer for losing a battle. It just means you have to grow more, along with your Pokémon."

Conna looks down at her feet, taking in what Jasmine said. "I'll let you think about what I said. Come back to the sight when you find what being a trainer is, and what kind of trainer you want to be," Jasmine turns and leaves. Conna notices Stanley and Shizuka sheepishly coming out of a bush. Stanley follows Jasmine and Shizuka comes over and puts a foot on Conna's leg, making the young girl smile.

"It's alright, buddy. Sorry for worrying you," she bends down and picks up the grass turtle, putting her on her shoulder before going over to a log and sitting on it, looking up at the half-moon. 'What being a trainer means and what kind I want to be. I want to be the next Champion. I know that's a big goal, but it's my dream to prove I'm good at something. All my life, no one's really been there for me other than Barry. Even mom pushes me to be something I don't want to be. People either expect me to be so great because of who my mom is, but others expect me to be horrible, just because of the dad I have never known.'

Conna closes her eyes, trying to see if she can remember something, anything, about her dad, but she can't come up with anything. Her mom never speaks about him, always looking sad whenever she brings it up. All Conna knows is that she looks a little like him, since she doesn't look a whole lot like her mother, and that he left them when she was just born, as if he was afraid of having to care for a baby. Conna loves her mom, she really does, but she always tries to go out of her way to protect Conna and keep her from knowing about her father. Is Conna's mom afraid of him? Did he do something horrible to her?

'Becoming the Champion will prove to mom that I'm not helpless, that I'm strong, even if I do have trouble reading, even if am I a bit slow in learning new things. And once she realizes what I'm doing, I hope she'll be proud of me.'

"Shizuka, do you know what it means to be a trainer for me? It means that I'll make my mother proud of me, it means that I might find out who my father is, and it means that I'm going to grow. With you, and Sky, and any other Pokémon we meet on the way to the top. No more feeling sorry for myself. Zuka, from now on, we'll give it our all, and we'll be happy whether we win or lose. We'll become a great team, and nothing will be able to stop us!" Conna smiles.

"Turtwig!" Shizuka nibbles on Conna's hear playfully, glad that her trainer-no-her friend is no longer miserable.

"Mww!" Conna's head snaps up and she looks in the tree branch above her. Sitting on it is Mew, who's giggling away into its small paws, its blue coat shimmers in the night and Conna stands, smiling, but also worried. What if those Space-Suit guys come by?

"Mew, you need to get out of here!" she says, jumping and waving her hand. Mew doesn't leave, but floats down to hover in front of Conna and Shizuka, a big smile on its face.

It snuggles its head into Conna's cheek, purring. "Mww," it backs off and disappears, leaving Conna to gawk.

"W-why does Mew always find me? How does it? And…why does it like me so much?"

Jasmine is throwing some more wood onto the fire when she hears footsteps. She looks up to see Akio walking out of the bush, Shizuka on his shoulder and a stunned but happy smile on his face. He sits down and doesn't look right at Jasmine, and before she can say anything, he speaks. "I know what it means, and what I want to be. It means to grow and become stronger, not physically, but you know what I mean. And I want to be Champion for three reasons."

"And those are?"

"To prove to my mom I'm not helpless, to grow with Shizuka and Sky, and to find my dad," he says, then looks up at Jasmine. "Is that right?"

Giggling, Jasmine nods, accepting his answer, "Yes, it's right. If that's what you want to do it for."

Akio lets out a sigh, seeming relieved. "Why do you want to do Contests?" he asks.

Jasmine looks away, she should have figured he'd ask that eventually, but she's still unprepared. She can't say why, not yet anyway. He won't understand. Not one bit. "No reason, they just looked like fun on TV, and I wanted to do it since I was little."

Akio blinks, and for a minute Jasmine's afraid he might ask more, but he shrugs it off and let's Sky out to feed her. Jasmine smiles, remembering that Akio's still a kid and has only just met her. "What's Hoenn like?"

Jasmine looks at the stars. "It's different than Sinnoh, I'll tell you that. The cities and towns are spread so far apart, there are many more islands, such different Pokémon, and the contests are not the same either. In Hoenn, you're Pokémon only preform their moves, not just their skills in dancing or getting dressed up."

"Dressed up?" Conna looks at Shizuka, trying to picture her with a bowtie and a top hat, maybe with a cane or something. She failed. "How? And the Pokémon dance?"

"I thought you said your mom was a Contest Star," Jasmine raises an eyebrow.

"She is, but I never really listened to what she had to say," Conna says. 'But boy do I wish I did now. I have no idea what I'm going to do for contests, how am I supposed to train with Jasmine around me? And what exactly can we do? I only have two Pokémon, and I have no experience with contests.'

-That night-

Conna tosses and turns in her sleep, mumbling tiredly. She shivers, despite the fire and the warmth of Shizuka and Sky. Even in her dreamless slumber, she feels as if she's being watched from the shadows, like something powerful is looking over her. Shizuka wakes at the shiver and looks at her friend, a bit worried. Is Conna okay? She hears a twig snap and looks into the trees, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. She locks eyes with something else in the bushes, but circular waves come from the bush and her eyes droop. Soon, she falls asleep by Hypnoses.

The Pokémon that made her fall asleep steps out of the bush, it is about 6'7" and looks like a larger Mew. But instead of pink or blue fur, it has light purple fur with a darker purple tail. It has some sort of tube-like thing coming out of its neck and attaching to its back. Deep purple eyes look over the trainers, and the alien-like Pokémon glides over the grass to keep silent as it approaches the duo and their sleeping Pokémon. One girl looks about thirteen, the other looks ten. But which one emitted that aura? It could sense it from fifty kilometers away. It's just surprised that no Lucario has come by yet, even if their kind is rare around here. It waves a three fingered hand over the ten-year-old. A sky blue mist surrounds her, with mixes of darker and lighter blues thrown in. But the last colour surprises the Pokémon. The mist closest to the girl's skin is…white. It has never seen something like it. It would have to inform this to the Council.

It waves a hand over the teen girl, nodding. The mist surrounding her is lavender, with black and grey mixing inside it. She's the one with the strong aura. It will definitely have to talk to the High Council about these two girls.

It turns to leave when it locks eyes with the ten-year-old. Navy and ice blue eyes look into deep purple as they stand there in silence. The girl in surprise awe and the Pokémon showing no emotion. "Y-you look like Mew," she says.

_You met her? Odd, she doesn't present herself to just any human_, the Pokémon's telepathic voice is deep, signalling it as male, at least to Conna. _Why would she reveal herself? She hasn't shown up near people since that one kid._

"What kid?"

_About seven years ago, a boy came into my cave and challenged me. He was strong, and with his team of slaves he saved me from being controlled by a cruel man._

"Slaves?" she looks at her Turtwig and Bagon. "Why do you call them that?"

He rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and turning away. _How they can live under the rule of humans is a mystery to me. You aren't important, you're just some naïve kid. Mew must have been mistaken when she told me she met with a great prodigy._ He looks over his shoulder and his eyes glow blue. The girl waves slightly before falling back, snoring.

He takes off and looks up at Mt. Coronet, seeing some shimmering light coming out of it. _So she'll come. Her brothers will not be pleased._

-The Next Morning-

Conna groans, holding her head. What a horrible sleep. She was tossing and turning all night and she must have woken more than once. One of those times, she remembers having a conversation with some man, but that must have been a dream, since it's fuzzy and unclear. She looks down at her Pokémon and the word 'slaves' comes to mind. She shakes her head, frowning. 'Where did that come from? I'm not slaving them…right?' she asks herself, watching Sky suck on the end of her tail in her sleep and Shizuka curl deeper into her side. "What a wacky dream; making me think I'm slaving my team," she mumbles, getting up and stretching. Looking around, she sees that the sun is just rising, and spring dew lightly covers the grass and leaves. The clouds are tinged orange and red as the sky turns a lighter blue and the stars twinkle out of sight in the wake of the sun.

It looks so beautiful, and Conna smiles despite of her slight headache. She looks at Jasmine to blink in surprise, she isn't sleeping in her tent, and her Pokémon are still in their Pokéballs.

Poke. "Jasmine? Shouldn't we get going?" Poke poke. "Jasmine?" Poke poke…poke. "Jazzy?" Poooooooooke.

The older girl sits up and yawns, stretching her arms over her head. "Morning Akio, surprised you're awake before me," she yawns, smiling.

"Me too. Did you have a weird dream last night?" she asks. Jasmine blinks at her sudden question.

"Pardon?"

"I had a weird dream last night, there was a tall Pokémon in it and he called these two slaves," she looks down at her Pokémon.

"Why would he call them that?"

"Beats me, but it was just a dream…right?" she whispers the last part to herself as they start packing.

They set out again, battling some wild Pokémon on the way, and Conna is proud to say that she got Shizuka got up three levels, making her level 12.

When they come around a tree and see a small patch of grass, Conna is knocked back by someone. She lands on her butt and rubs her tailbone tenderly as she looks up, seeing Barry lying on the ground in front of her. "Barry, do you always have to be in a rush?" she asks, getting to her feet and helping her friend up.

"I'm not in a rush, you're just slower than I am," he says, dusting off his pants.

"Barry, I think a Staraptor is slower than you," Conna replies.

"Yeah yeah yeah," he waves his hand lazily. "Hey! Since we bumped into each other, want to battle?" he asks, taking a Pokéball off his belt. Conna notices he has two now. So he caught a second Pokémon too.

"Sure. We can show you how much we improved, right, Zuka?" Conna looks at the Turtwig on her shoulder, who nods.

"Alright! Come on out, Starly!" he throws the Pokéball and out comes the bird.

"Ready, Zuka?"

"Use Quick Attack!"

Jasmine watches the two fight as she sits on a log, finding it amusing when Shizuka hurts the Starly more with Tackle than the Starly hurts her with Peck. She whispers to Stanley, "Looks like both Akio and Shizuka are more confident than last night." The Elekid nods, watching as Starly faints. Shizuka is hurt, but not enough to slow her down.

"Good job, Starly. Okay, Chimchar, you're up!" the fire monkey comes out and bounces on the balls of his feet, ready for battle. "Taunt!" Chimchar starts chatting away, and Shizuka quickly becomes irritated for some reason.

"Okaaay, Zuka, use Leech Seed!" Conna says, confused at what Chimchar did. But nothing happened.

"Akio, Taunt makes it so that a Pokémon can only use damaging moves, like Tackle. Moves like Leech Seed and Withdrawal are useless for a while," Jasmine calls from the sidelines.

'Oh no, now we're in trouble,' Conna gulps and looks at Shizuka, all they can do now is Tackle Chimchar. "Well, let's do what we can, Zuka! Tackle!"

"Dodge, then use Growl," Barry said.

'So he's going to lower Zuka's attack, as long as making it so she can't use non-damaging moves. Barry's using some tactic. Good for him, he lacks a bit in that apartment.'

Chimchar leap-frogs over Shizuka's shell, landing behind her and growling as she turns, she shakes it off and Tackles him, doing only a bit of damage.

"This is either going to be really long, or really short," Jasmine says to herself as Chimchar spews embers from his mouth, hitting Shizuka and landing a critical hit. "It will be short." Shizuka stands up, her legs shaky, but she manages to put the shakiness to the back of her head.

"Okay, keep calm, keep calm," Conna mutters. "Absorb won't do anything, we can't use Leech Seed or Withdrawal. We don't have a lot of options here…" she sighs. "I guess we're just going to have to keep going. Tackle!"

"Intercept it with Scratch!"

"Twig!"

"Char!" they run at each other and Shizuka manages to, somehow, hit first, getting Chimchar in the stomach. He scratches her face in return. They send each other back and some dust rises under their feet.

"Finish with Ember!"

"Withdrawal!" luckily, the Taunt has worn off and the shell surrounds Shizuka, weakening the fire's power. "Quickly, use Tackle!"

"Never thought I would see the day a Turtwig moves 'quickly'," Jasmine says as Chimchar sways on his feet, now both their Pokémon are in their range for their ability.

"Ember!"

Shizuka is hit, and falls down, swirls in her eyes. Sighing, Conna returns her, smiling at the red and white ball. "You did great, Zuka. Okay, this might not work, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Come on, Sky! Let's show him what we're made of!" the Bagon comes out, and Barry's jaw gracefully drops to the ground. "Long story, I'll tell you later. Okay, Sky, use Leer," Conna says.

It's funny seeing a small, baby Pokémon make a Chimchar cower. "Taunt!"

'Doesn't matter, I wasn't going to use Leer again anyway.'

"Use Fire Fang!" even if it doesn't do much, at least it will do something. Sky opens her mouth, fire forming on her fangs, and snaps forward, attaching herself onto Chimchar's arm.

"Chimchar!" he throws her off and she lands on her rear, seeming to be oblivious to the pain as she sucks on the end of her tail and stops paying attention.

"Aww man," Conna sweat-drops.

"Well, look at the bright side, Akio, she stayed on task longer," Jasmine says optimistically.

"Well there's that," Conna sighs.

"Why do you have a baby Pokémon with you anyway?" Barry asks, looking at his watch impatiently.

"If you have somewhere to be, you might want to stop looking at your watch, Bar," Conna smirks.

"Right. Ember!"

"You use Ember too, Sky!" Conna says, but Sky continues to sit with her tail in her mouth.

The Ember from Chimchar hits Sky, but, surprisingly enough, the little Bagon doesn't get too hurt. "Oh right, do either of you know about Dragon Types?" Jasmine asks. They both shook their heads. "Ice and other Dragon Types have an advantage to them, Fire Type moves are next to useless."

"Oh," Barry and Conna look at each other. "But wouldn't the Ember do more, since Sky is only a baby?" the bluenette asks.

"I don't know why that is," Jasmine shrugs.

'This is going to take a while…'

What Conna thinks is wrong, what she has forgotten is how much Shizuka has weakened Chimchar.

"Come on, Sky, use Fire Fang."

Sky looks at her 'Mama' and chirps before getting to her feet. She looks at the Chimchar in front of her and narrows her eyes before running clumsily at him, opening her mouth and feeling heat surround her teeth. She bites down on Chimchar's arm again before his trainer can react (he was laughing at her stumbling) and with the little strength she has, spins and tosses him away.

All three trainers' jaws drop when they watch the Bagon fling Chimchar into a tree, making him hit it upside-down and facing them. He falls down with swirls in his eyes, and Barry returns him, still in shock. "Did your Bagon just toss Chimchar?" he asks.

"AHHH!" Jasmine and Barry jump and look at Conna to see Sky chomping down on her arm. "Get her off, get her off, get her off!" she yells.

"Aww, she's teething," Jasmine coos, clasping her hands together as she remembers Flare doing that.

Barry is just leaning on a tree, out of breath from laughing so hard at his friend's misfortune. He is so happy he doesn't have to deal with a baby Pokémon.

Conna returns Sky, rubbing her arm tenderly. "I'm going to bruise, that's for sure," she muttered. She looks up at the two, glaring. "Thanks for the help."

"Sorry," Jasmine smiles sheepishly as Barry gets to his feet.

"That was too funny," he fights to keep his face straight, and successfully fails to do so.

"Oh, it was just hi-lar-i-ous," Conna says sarcastically, "Because it's _so_ funny when my arm is getting bitten by a teething dragon!"

"Good, so you agree!" Barry smiles, and Conna's eye twitches as she growls. "Well, I need to get going. If I want to battle the Gym Leader of Oreburgh, I need to get stronger! See you around!" he speeds off, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

"He really likes moving, doesn't he?" Jasmine asks, looking at Conna, who's hitting her dusty hat against her leg.

"Ever since I first met him, I've known he can't sit still for more than five minutes. I think he has ADHD," she says. "We even each other out though. I manage to slow him down and keep him busy, and he helps me with reading and math and stuff."

"Well that's nice. You two seem like good friends," she smiles as Conna heals Shizuka.

"We are. Okay, we're ready to go! Let's head out. Hopefully it will be easy traveling from now on."

-Later that day-

Conna stands in front of the cave entrance, not liking where this is going. It looks dark in there, and she isn't ready to just jump into another cave and end up with a horde of Zubat and Golbat following her. "Don't worry, only Zubat, Geodude and Psyduck live in here. Shizuka's good against the last two, and Stanley can easily deal with those Zubat," Jasmine says.

"How do you know that?" Conna asks.

Jasmine has a fast panic look in her eye before she calms down. "I was told by another trainer who passed through here, he told me what lived there," she says. Conna blinks. Did Jasmine just lie? No. Conna shakes her head. Jasmine said they could go to each other if something was bothering them, what Jasmine said about the trainer is probably true.

They enter the cave, but Conna finds it's more like a tunnel, she can see the exit from where she stands. She goes to walk forward when she finds a crumbled rock in her way. She pushes it, but it doesn't move at all. She kicks it, but yelps and jumps back, holding her throbbing foot. "Akio, what are you doing? You have to break this with Rock Smash," Jasmine shakes her head at her and looks at Stanley. "Care to help us out?" he nods and runs at the rock, winding his arm around in a circle before bringing it down on the rock, it crumbles into little bits at Conna's feet.

"What was that?" she asks, a little awed.

"Rock Smash, it's an HM move that you can teach to a Pokémon. Have you heard of HMs or TMs?"

"I've heard of them. They're disks that can teach a Pokémon a new move, right?"

"Yes. TMs break after one use, but HMs never break, but a Pokémon can't unlearn an HM, so if you don't like it, too bad."

Conna nods, storing this information for later, and the two continue on through the tunnel. They come across two other trainers and Conna is happy to find that she's starting to get used to this training. She won both battles and got some Pokédollars out of it. Why that happens is beyond her. "It's an unspoken trainer rule, if a trainer loses to another; they need to give them money for winning. No one's sure why that happens, but they assume it's because it's the only way to make money, other than working at a Café of course," Jasmine tells her as they exit the tunnel.

They bring their arms up to block out the setting sun and Conna lowers hers to look around. Oreburgh City isn't nearly as large as Jubilife, but it isn't small either. Hills surround the city and people walk the streets, getting ready to go home. From here, Conna can see some metal conveyer belts on the other side of the city, they seem to be carrying dirt and coal from the large cave opening she can spot. "So this is Oreburgh," she whispers.

"Yep, it looks kind of cool. I think that's the museum I heard about, and over there is probably the mine, where they get the things for the museum in," Jasmine points to a large, white dome-like building before pointing to the cave hole Conna saw. "Hmm, sorry, Akio, but I don't think you'll be able to challenge the Gym today."

"Why?"

"The sun's starting to set. Gyms close after eight and judging by my Pokétch, it will be eight in five minutes. We won't make it."

"Oh," she looks at her own blue Pokétch. "I'm not entirely good at reading 24 hour clocks."

"You'll learn eventually. Come on, let's get to the Pokémon Center, everyone's tired." They walk down the stairs built into the hill from the tunnel and Jasmine presses a button on her Pokétch, a map shows up and she presses the darkened square that has two small dots on it. The square expands and lets her see the city of Oreburgh. "Well, the Center isn't too far from here. It's just down that road. Come on."

When they enter the Center, they see that basically no one is there. There's only a teenaged boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen, sleeping with his head hanging over the back of the couch. Conna sees the three Pokéballs on his belt and wonders what Pokémon he has.

As if sensing her eyes on him, the boy wakes with a snort and lifts his head to look at her. He has black eyes and short reddish-brown hair. He grins at her and she notices the faint scar on his cheek. "Hey there, kid, didn't your parents ever tell you it isn't polite to stare?" his comment makes Conna's cheeks turn pink and she looks away, hearing him chuckle.

"Sorry about my friend, he seems to look strangers up and down whenever he meets them," Jasmine says.

"That's okay, he's being cautious and observant. More kids his age need to be like that. I'm Truman, from Kanto," he shakes her hand.

"Well, Truman of Kanto, be prepared to get asked what kind of Pokémon you have," Jasmine says as Akio comes over. "I'm Jasmine. And this is Akio. He just started his journey."

"Nice to meet you, kid," Truman says, nodding his head. "Name's Truman," he notices Shizuka standing at Akio's feet and smiles. "That's a nice-looking Turtwig you have there. Boy or girl?"

"Girl, her name's Shizuka."

"Well, she looks very strong. She'll be a great leader of your team," Shizuka blushes red at the praise.

"Um, thanks?" Akio says, unsure of what to make of that.

"Do you have any other Pokémon with you?" he asks.

"Yes, I have Sky, she's a Bagon, but she's sleeping right now," the younger boy nods, patting the second ball on his belt.

"Well, I know for certain Bagon aren't common here. How'd you get her?"

"Her mom was being chased by weird people. I don't know why," Akio shrugs.

"I heard Salamence, Shelgon and Bagon scales, teeth and organs can be sold on the black market," Akio's and Jasmine's jaws drop in disgust, and Akio subconsciously pulls her Pokéball containing Sky closer to his side.

"That's horrible!" Jasmine squirms at the idea of someone selling Pokémon parts at a market of any kind.

"True, but I only know that because a friend of mine was traveling at night and happened to see it. But on a happy note, I'd like to introduce you guys to my team!" he tosses only two of the Pokémon out. One is a blue-green, green splotched, dinosaur-like Pokémon with a pink bulb on its back and broad leaves on the base of the bulb. The second is an Abra, which Conna had seen on TV once. "This is Ivysaur, he's been with me from the beginning. And this is Abra, she's a bit temperamental, but she's grown on me," he smiles.

Conna crouches in front of Ivysaur as he stands there, just smiling away. She takes her Pokédex out, but like with Sky, the screen is only snowy static and the Pokédex peeps, "No data available. Pokémon unknown to Sinnoh." She frowns, but puts it back into her pocket, looking up to see Jasmine and Truman staring at her, then her pocket.

"What?" she asks.

"That's a Pokédex, right?" Truman asks, looking in awe.

"Yeah," Conna takes it back out, looking it over. "What about it?"

"Where did you get it? And who gave it to you?" Jasmine can't stop looking at the Pokémon Dictionary.

"I got it from Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town. Can you tell me what's going on?"

"That explains it," the other two both say in unison.

"Professor Rowan is a college of Professor Oak," Conna's eyes widen. "Oak probably gave it to him. Pokédex are rare, you're probably holding no less then twelve Pokédex in the world!" Jasmine claps her hands together, a faraway look in her eyes as they twinkle. "For Rowan to give it to you, he must truly think you'll do great things!"

"So what? He was going to give one to Barry, but then Barry ran off before he could get it," Conna protests. "And I'm sure he gives them to other people."

"No, none of the Professors give Pokédex for any old reason. It's rare for anyone to have one. But aside from that, you'll need to take good care of it. They are worth a lot of money and if the wrong people find out you have it, you'll be in some trouble," Truman advices. "Well, I'll see you another time, maybe. I need to head out in the morning, but our roads might cross again. Good night!" he waves and starts walking away, Ivysaur following as Abra just sits, crossing her arms. "Come on, Abra," he returns her. "I know how much you like your sleep."

"He was nice, even if he was a little odd," Conna says.

"I think so too. Come on, it will be cheaper if we share a room. Remember, knock before entering."

"Yes ma'am," Conna salutes her with a goofy grin.

'Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to travel with Jasmine after all…'

Gery: There we go. Jeez. Still really sorry for not doing this earlier. Stuff happens, ya know *shrugs*. Well, hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. See ya! And happy early holidays!


	5. Master of the Mines, Roark

Chapter 5: Master of the Mines, Roark

Conna wakes up to see Flare's face in hers. She yelps and flails out of the bed, landing on her back. "Flare, don't do that," she groans, sitting up to get licked in the face. "Hey!" she tries to push the Arcanine away, but she pushes back and licks Conna until her hair is sticking up more than usual. "Done yet?" Flare snorts smoke into her face, making her cough, before turning and lying down on the floor, chewing on a rubber Psyduck. Conna waves away the smoke with her hand, eyes watering. Shizuka's holding her feet over her mouth to quiet her snickers. "Shut up, Zuka," she mumbles, standing up and glaring at the Turtwig, who's shaking to keep silent.

"Good morning, Akio," Jasmine says, coming in with two trays. "Eat up, we're going to the museum before the Gym today."

"Why?"

"Because we're going to enjoy our traveling, not just our battles and Contests," she smiles, giving one tray to Conna. "I'm going to leave these guys here, they need to relax for a bit," she gestures her thumb to her Pokémon. Stanley is dozing on the bed with his hands behind his head, Louie is perched on the windowsill, enjoying the morning breeze, and Grace is nowhere to be seen, which makes Conna nervous.

She feels something wrap around her leg and looks down to see the Dark/Ice Type standing there, holding Conna's leg in one claw, a smirk on her face. Grace's eyes seem to say "You scared?"

"I'd be lying if I said no," Conna mutters.

Grace lets go of her with surprise, looking at her with wide eyes as if to say, "You understand?"

"Jasmine, I think I froze Grace," Conna pokes the Sneasel, who takes a swipe at her, making her stumble back. "Never mind, she's fine," she says, looking over her hands to check if they're unscathed.

"Come on, I want to get to the museum before it gets too crowded."

"Coming!" Conna gets up and runs out, clipping Shizuka's and Sky's Pokéballs to her belt. Shizuka follows beside her and Sky is in her arms, being fed as the two trainers walk down the halls of the Poké Center. As they are passing through the lobby, Conna's attention is taken by the large TV, a battle is happening on screen and Conna instantly recognizes the field as the battle ground for the second member of the Elite Four, an elderly woman who goes by the name Bertha and specializes in Ground Types. She's currently being challenged by a girl who has a Vaporeon fighting Bertha's Ryperior.

"I thought you said you were coming!" Conna takes her eyes off the TV as the Ryperior uses Earthquake.

Muttering a small "Oh", she follows Jasmine, not really looking forward to the museum.

When they come to the entrance of the museum, Conna sees a sign: _No Pokémon allowed outside their Pokéballs_. She looks down at Shizuka and shrugs. "Sorry bud, you need to return," she says. Shizuka nods and gets returned in the red beam of light.

"This is so exciting!" Jasmine says, skipping into the museum. "Hurry up, Akio! We have exhibits to look at!"

The first thing they come to is a skeleton of an old Pokémon with large wings and a huge jaw. Under the skeleton was the Pokémon's species name. "_Aerodactyl_?" Conna mutters, looking at the skeleton with awe. "This Pokémon lived so long ago."

"There are a lot of Pokémon that lived long ago, like this one," Jasmine points to a skeleton of a Pokémon with a large, flat head and sharp arms. "This is Kabutops, this particular one lived nineteen million years ago, or so this says."

"Pokémon have been around for so long," Conna says. "I wonder what they did before humans showed up."

"Maybe they lived in bigger groups of their kinds, I've heard that some Pokémon, like Torus and Poneta, can live up to a herd of over a hundred."

"They're all so amazing. I wonder if I could ever see them all," Conna smiles at the thought. "I don't see why I need to catch every Pokémon I come across; I just want to see the different types and species."

"What's the dream Pokémon you want to see?" Jasmine asks as they wander the museum, looking at different artifacts.

"One Pokémon I'd love to see in person is a Glaceon. I read a book on Eevee and its evolutions when I was younger. There have been seven evolved forms of Eevee found, and my favorite of the bunch is Glaceon."

"Really? I don't meet many people who think so. Most people like Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon and Espeon."

"Most people like Fire or Water starters, but I chose Shizuka."

"That's true. Hey, what's going on over there?" Jasmine spots a crowd surrounding something further away.

"Don't know, let's go see," they run over and make their way through the crowd, finding a spot in the middle. Jasmine doesn't see anything of interest, only a small rock is sitting on a pedestal, it is lumpy and grey, nothing special about it. Conna, however, looks at it curiously, wonder what it can be. She looks at the woman beside her asks her what it is.

"It's a Moon Stone, a very rare item that allows certain Pokémon to evolve," she explains. "It's said that it comes from space."

'Space, huh?' Conna thinks, looking at the stone. 'That's pretty cool, I wonder why everyone is crowded around it though, it's like they're waiting for something to happen.'

"Alright people, move along," one of the scientist makes a shooing motion with his hands, as if shooing away a Glameow. "There are many more interesting things other than this stone," the crowd dispatches and when Jasmine starts walking away, she finds that Akio isn't following. She turns to see him looking at the stone, and asking the scientists where they found it. "We got it sent over from Kanto, one of my friends there thought it would be a nice addition to the museum. He said that it evolves Pokémon like Clefairy, Jigglypuff and both evolved forms of Nidoran."

"Are they rare?" Conna asks.

"Very, they're one of the rarest stones to find. I haven't met many people who ask about it, many just stare at it."

"I like to know all I can about something I find interest is."

"I like your way of thinking, young man. Maybe one day you wouldn't mind becoming a scientist yourself," the man suggests.

Conna shakes her head. "No, that's not for me. Are there any other rare stones you have?"

"Not really, all we have other than this is some coal that we found in the local mine. Roark is in there at the moment, helping clear a cave-in."

"Roark?"

"The city's Gym Leader. He specializes in Rock Types."

Conna's eyes light up, so that's what she's up against. She has an advantage! "Why was there a cave-in?"

"We are not sure. There was an earthquake last week that came from the mines, so we think that there's an enraged Pokémon in there, possibly an Onix."

"Aren't Onix those giant rock snakes?"

"Indeed."

Jasmine sighs as she comes over. And Akio was the one who didn't want to come. "Sorry if my friend is bothering you, once he starts talking about interesting topics, it's hard to shut him up," she says.

"I don't talk as much as you," Conna sticks her tongue out.

Jasmine mirrors her, and the scientist hides a smile behind his hand at the two, they act like siblings. "Well, I hope to see another person with such interest. I should get going," he waves and walks down the hall.

"So Roark is the Gym Leader?" Conna asks herself, a smile growing. "If he uses Rock Types, then me and Shizuka will have no problem!"

"But you got to take into account that he's not like other trainers, he's much stronger and has a different tactic. He might beat you even with disadvantage Pokémon," Jasmine says.

Conna thinks this over as they start to leave, having seen most of the museum. On her way out, Jasmine sees one of the painting's eyes move and land on her friend for a second before they moved back in place. Shaking her head and believing it to be her imagination, she quickly forgets the painting and follows Conna out.

The moment they are outside, Conna releases Shizuka, who shakes the red beam off. "There we go, Zuka," she picks her up in her arms. "What is it like in there, anyway?"

Shizuka looks at her as if to say, "It's strange, it's comforting and cozy, yet it feels a little small. But it's not claustrophobic."

"So it's not too bad?" Conna asks, not seeing Jasmine look at her oddly.

Shizuka shakes her head, her eyes reading, "Not at all. I just prefer to be outside."

"I'd rather be outside than inside any day," she laughs.

"Akio," the bluenette looks at the older girl. "Did you just understand Shizuka?"

Conna blinks, looking at her Turtwig. Did she? She shrugs, not sure what Jasmine's talking about. She only talked to her starter, it's not like other people don't do it. Besides, it seems to get easier and easier to understand Shizuka with every passing day. "Not really, I just get the meaning of what she's trying to say. Why? Can't other trainers do that?"

"Yes, but the way you said it, you acted as if you understood her perfectly," Jasmine looks deep in thought, talking to herself more than to Conna. After a few seconds, she shakes the thought off. "It's nothing, I guess. It happens sometimes."

Suddenly, the ground shakes under their feet. Jasmine grabs onto a poll beside her as Conna tucks Shizuka into her, leaning on a wall for support. Once the tremor passes, they wait for a bit before moving. "What was that?" Jasmine wonders.

"The scientist mentioned there was an earthquake. Maybe that was another one." They look over the building tops to see smoke and dust coming from the other side of the city. They hear someone down the street yell.

"The Mine collapsed! Everyone's trapped inside!"

The two girls look at each other, muttering "Oh no," before running towards the mine, where people are running form in fear of another earthquake. The mine entrance is huge, three wooden pillars on the top and sides. The conveyer belts Conna saw before are now broken and coal dust is falling everywhere like snow. Conna and Jasmine use their shirts to cover their mouths as they come close to the caved-in rocks, where mine workers are helping some Machop clear the way, with little to no success.

"Hey, kids shouldn't be around here!" one of the workers yells, spotting them. "This is dangerous, you need to leave!"

"Hey, Mac opened up a hole!" another worker beside two more Machop says. He bends down and mumbles to himself. "But it's awfully small. I think we'll have to send a Pokémon through."

Conna looks at Shizuka, who's on her shoulder with her front feet over her nose, and hums. "Hey, Zuka, could you fit through there?" she asks. The Turtwig looks at her then to the hole. True, it is small, but maybe she could fit through. Shizuka jumps off Conna's shoulder and the two walk up to the workers, Jasmine staying behind as to not get close to the falling coal.

"What did I tell you, kid? Get away from here," the first worker says.

"I know, but if you need help, maybe Shizuka could get in," Conna looks down at Shizuka. "She's small enough to fit through the hole, and she could probably find the problem easily."

The two workers look at each other nervously, torn between their duty to keep civilians away, and their duty to their fellow workers and Boss. The second turns to her, reluctantly he says, "Alright, kid. You're Turtwig can try. It can go with Mac and Lee here," he looks at the two Machops. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Stay safe, Zuka. If it gets too much, come back and we'll wait until the path is clearer. We'll all work on clearing it, okay?" Conna pats Shizuka's head.

"Twig, tur Turtwig!" Shizuka nods, sounding as if saying, "You can count on me!"

"I know I can," Conna steps back as the men usher her away and Shizuka enters the hole, followed by Mac and Lee.

"**You're trainer is pretty smart,"** Lee says, leading the small rescue party.

"**She's my friend, not my trainer,"** Shizuka replies, keeping an eye out for anything potentially threatening.

"**But still, she's smart to think of sending you in here. With all three of us good against Rock Types, we'll have no problem battling Geodude!"** Lee bounces on his feet.

"**Maybe so, but we're all at a disadvantage towards Zubat, so we'll need to be careful,"** Mac says as they head further into the dark mine.

"**Do you know what caused the earthquakes?"** Shizuka asks.

"**No, no one is sure what caused it. It couldn't be natural, since it's coming from here and not going far from the mine,"** Lee explains.

"**Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"** the high pitched, screechy voice from above makes them look up to see a Zubat hanging from a stalactite, flapping her wings. She flies off and comes at them, eyes locking on Mac as she opens her mouth and small spits of purple poison come out. It hits Mac, but doesn't cause much damage, so he pounds his fists together and a strange, yellowish-orange light lifts from the ground around him to above his head. He jumps at the Zubat and hits it with the side of his hand, smacking it into the wall with a Karate Chop, landing a direct hit on the Zubat's head.

'**What could that be?'** Shizuka wonders as she tackles the Zubat, sending it at Lee, who jumps and kicks the Zubat, using no move.

"**Alright, Lee, let's finish this!"** Mac says as the trio stand side-by-side.

"**You got it, friend!"** Lee nods, pounding his fists together and having the same light surround him. **"Ready, Turtwig?"**

"**Ready!"** she nods, charging up a Tackle as the Zubat flies from the ground. The Zubat uses Supersonic and Shizuka slides in front of the Machop, getting hit by the attack.

The world starts to spin, the floor, walls and ceiling merge together in a blurry image as two, blue-green blurs pass through her vision. She sways on her feet, feeling as if she had just drunken a barrel of Oren Berry Cider. She turns, seeing a rock as the Zubat, and runs at it, tackling it but hitting her head on the face of it. She lays there as screeching fills her ear slits and the world starts to come back together as the Machop run over. **"Are you alright, Turtwig?"**

She picks herself up, shaking her head quickly to rid the last of the dizziness. **"Shizuka, and yes, I'm fine. Just a little lightheaded,"** she blinks a few times.

"**Come on, we need to keep going,"** Mac smiles and the three keep going, coming across the occasional Geodude and Zubat along the way.

Suddenly, Shizuka hears footsteps and turns around to see Conna running towards them, covered in black coal and dust. **"What is she doing here**?" Shizuka asks herself, worried. She runs up to Conna and puts a foot on her leg. **"What are you doing? Get out of here! It's dangerous!"**

"Hey, Zuka. Look, before you go scolding me, I had to come in here! There was a nagging feeling in my gut that wouldn't leave!" Conna says.

How did she even get passed the workers? Surely they would have held her back.

As if knowing what she is thinking, Conna smiles sheepishly. "I snuck in here when they weren't looking. They had made a bigger hole so I slipped in."

Shizuka sighs, shaking her head. Conna will get herself hurt if she keeps being so reckless. **"What's the hold up, Shizuka?"** Lee calls.

"**I'll be right there!"** she calls back and looks at Conna. She might as well take the girl with her. She nips her jeans and pulls before following the voices of Lee and Mac.

Conna follows at Shizuka's side, careful not to trip over rocks. She thinks back to when she got in and frowns. 'Maybe I should have thought this through. They obviously didn't want me coming in here for a reason. Oh well, too late now.'

Then the mine shakes, dust falls from the ceiling as Conna and Shizuka catch up to Lee and Mac, the two Machops not looking happy about Conna being there. The shaking increases and Conna is thrown off her feet, landing on her side and rolling towards a wall. Her back slams into it and the three Pokémon, in turn, slam into her. Making sure they're all right, Conna looks up in time to see a stalactite starting to fall towards them. With a cry, she pushes the Pokémon away just before it lands, almost stabbing her through the stomach. In too big a shock, she doesn't notice that the wall behind her fell down, reviling glowing yellow eyes towering above her. She's taken out of the shock when a small rock lands on her head. She rubs her head and spots a shadow cover her. Gulping, she looks behind her to see a large rock snake body. An Onix. She shivers as she gets to her feet, slowly looking up to see it looking at her.

The Onix lowers its head to her level, the bottom jaw almost touching the ground to do so, and opens its mouth. She covers her ears just as it lets out a Screech, making her ears ring, the world spin and leaving her disoriented. She stumbles back and her back hits the stalactite, knocking it over and making it slam into the ground near the three Pokémon. Shizuka, Lee and Mac run to stand in front of Conna, glaring at the Onix. It swings its tail at them and knocks them aside into the wall, knocking them out. It wraps its tail around Conna and retreats back into the tunnel it created, making the girl's breath get caught in her throat.

Shizuka blinks her eyes open to find the Onix gone. Relieved for a second, she looks around to see Lee and Mac beside her in a pile. She gets to her feet and shakes them, waking them from unconsciousness. **"You guys alright?"**

"**Yeah. Hey, where'd your trainer-friend go?"** Lee asks.

Shizuka turns a lighter green colour before spinning around, frantically looking for Conna. **"Oh no. Conna!"** she runs to the beginning of the tunnel, could she be down there.

"**Are you looking for that human?"** a Geodude hops over, bringing up dust wherever he lands. **"She was taken by the Onix who's causing the earthquakes. I don't know why she, the Onix, took her down there."**

"**She's down there? Does the tunnel lead off anywhere?"**

"**I wouldn't know. It's unlucky your trainer got taken by her, Onix doesn't like many people trespassing."**

"**Great Arceus,"** Shizuka mutters. **"Alright, you two try and find those miners, I'll look for Conna."**

"**You got it!"** the Machop give her a thumbs-up and run off. She heads down the tunnel as fast as she can. She can't let Conna get hurt. Conna's the first human to even glance at her in so long. All the other trainers either pick Chimchar or, more often than not, Piplup as a starter, but Conna chose _her_. Shizuka knows Grass Types like herself have disadvantages to many Pokémon, and to think that Conna doesn't care she's a Turtwig, also the slowest of the starters, makes her so happy. She has to save the only person who gave her a chance, and the only person she can consider a friend.

Shizuka doesn't stop running, even when she grows tired and her legs start to get sore, and when she comes across a fork in the tunnel, she just runs down the left tunnel, as if something is telling her where to go. It doesn't take long after that to find a cavern, and she sees Conna lying near the back, unconscious and sprawled on the floor, her sunglasses lens broken and the glasses lying next to her face. Carefully, Shizuka starts walking towards her friend, keeping an eye out for the Onix. She makes it to her friend's side without any mishap and pushes her head into hers, trying to wake her.

Conna moans when something moves her head, and she opens her eyes to see Shizuka in her face, a bright smile in her yellow/black eyes. "Zuka? What happened?" she asks, her ears still ringing from the Screech attack, she can't even hear herself. Hopefully she doesn't become deaf from this. She struggles to sit up, and settles with just leaning on her elbows to look around. The cavern they are in is dark and damp, water drips from the roof near Conna. "Are we safe?" when she asks this, the Onix comes out from behind a boulder, stretching high until its head touches the ceiling.

It roars loudly, and Conna Krabby-walks back until she comes to an edge of a hole. The Onix lowers its head again, but this time it doesn't Screech, it just stares at Conna and Shizuka, who is now in Conna's arms. "On On, Onix?" its voice rumbles and the girl looks at the Turtwig, asking with her eyes to tell her what it said.

From what Conna can get, is that the Onix is asking her name and what her business is here. "I'm Conna!" she yells to hear herself. "And I came here to help find the miners who are here. There have been earthquakes happening and some people think you're the one causing it!"

"ONIX?!" it yells, outraged. Conna gulps, wishing she can back away further. "On! Onix On, On!" it coils up. "Onix, ix, Onix On!"

Conna blinks as she regains some hearing. "Are you trying to say it's not you?" she yells. The Onix nods firmly. "Then what is it?" she asks.

The Onix stretches its head over her and looks down. Getting what it's saying, Conna turns and looks down to see another large rock snake. It looks like Onix, but is bigger, shinier, and seems to be made of steel. "Wow," Conna pulls out her Pokédex and, after it scans Onix by accident, beeps.

"Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon and the evolved form of Onix. Steelix are strong and powerful. With its jaws, it can crush boulders like glass and its skin is harder than diamond. Beware, they are very territorial," the Pokédex beeps off and Conna puts it in her back pocket, gulping as she looks down at the Steelix. It must be the thing causing the earthquakes. It backs up and runs at a wall, causing a tremor and making Conna slide down the hole. She screams as she holds Shizuka to her, her screaming bouncing off the walls and rebounding back to her. She comes out the bottom and lands harshly on her butt. Her eyes water a bit at the sharp pain in her tailbone and she looks up to see the Steelix now looking at her.

"Oh boy," she mutters, getting up and ignoring the scrapes she received from her trip. She backs up and looks down at Shizuka, who's looking at her calmly. "Right, if it's evolved from Onix, which is a Rock and Ground Type, even if it's Steel now, probably instead of Rock, it's still a Ground Type, then we can have a bit of an upper hand. Alright, let's do this. Ready, Zuka?" she asks as the Turtwig jumps out of her arms, facing the Steelix with a fire burning in her eye.

"Twig!" **(Always!)**

"Alright," Conna smirks. "Use Leech Seed!"

Shizuka charges up as the Steelix comes at them, its tail raised and ready to use Slam. Its tail wraps around Shizuka and lifts her, but she gets a chance and sends the Leech Seed. It lands on Steelix's head and sprouts as it brings its tail down, slamming Shizuka into the rocks. "Are you alright?" Conna calls.

"Tur twig!" **(I'm fine!)**

"Absorb!"

Shizuka opens her mouth and takes the energy from Steelix, while healing herself from the Slam attack. Despite it being evolved, Steelix isn't very strong. It Tackles Shizuka, sending her back to Conna's feet, and glows green as the Turtwig does, thanks to the Leech Seed. Suddenly, without a command, Shizuka stands and the leaves on her head grow twice their normal size before she jumps and spins, sending a wave of sharp leaves at Steelix. They hit dead on and the Steelix falls back, swirls in its eyes. It really wasn't that strong.

"Shizuka, that was amazing!" Conna hugs her partner before lifting her into the air. "And you learned a new move! Razor Leaf, right?"

"Tur!" **(Yup!)**

There's the sound of clapping and Conna turns to see a boy in his late teens standing there. He has grey miner clothes on, glasses, three Pokéballs at his belt, and is wearing a miner's hat on his dark red hair. "Well done! That's some impressive battling you did. Just when I thought I'd found the source of the problem, you've already found it," he smiles, walking over as the light on his hat lights up the area so Conna can see. The man tosses a Pokéball at the Steelix and it goes in with the red beam. The ball shakes three times before clicking, signalling a successful capture. "My dad will probably like training it. Anyway, I've been impolite. I'm Roark," he shakes her hand.

"Akio," Conna says. "Wait, you're the Gym Leader?"

He nods. "Yes. I work in the mine during my free time, and I had to investigate on the tremors. While I was in here, I was trapped by a cave-in with some of the other workers. We're digging our way out now. We're lucky that two Machop came and helped us, we're making much better progress than we did before," he waves for her to follow and they start walking. "Am I to guess that you're a challenger?"

"Yeah."

"Thought so. With the way you work with that Turtwig of yours, I'd say you'll do fine. But I won't go easy on you," he says.

"I didn't expect or want you too."

Roark smiles at that. They come across some more miners and they wave at Roark as the two walk up. "Any progress?"

"Yes, we've almost made it through this, so we'll be home free soon."

"Actually," Conna puts in, making them look at her, "the front of the mine is blocked too, so there's work there as well."

"If there's a cave-in there, how did you get in?" Roark asks, having a suspicion if the look on his face is anything to go by.

"Uh...well, I kind of snuck in when the two people working on it and my friend weren't looking. I crawled through the hole they made after Shizuka left a few minutes before," she says, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"That was stupid and reckless, kid," the worker snaps harshly. "What if you got hurt? No one would know! Don't be a hero, kid, it's not worth the effort."

"It's alright, Daniel," Roark says, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "If Akio didn't come in here, he wouldn't have been able to stop the Steelix from rampaging."

"Steelix?" Daniel asks, shocked.

"Yes, I was surprised too. I caught it and it will go to my dad as an early birthday gift. So, Akio," Roark looks at the bluenette. "I hope you like hard work, because you're going to help us get out," he takes a minor helmet and puts it on her head, it fall in front of her eyes and she has to hold it up. The Gym Leader hands her a pickaxe and motions towards the cave-in. "Do you mind?"

Conna shakes her head, making the helmet shake, and follows Roark and Daniel to help dig out.

-Outside the mine-

Jasmine paces back and forth, freaking out. Akio is missing! She looked away for one moment and he was gone! Where could he be? He didn't go into the mine, did he? Knowing him, he probably did. Oh Arceus! She's going to scold him so hard he'll wish it was his own mother!

There's another tremor and she starts to freak out more. Oh dear oh dear oh dear! What can she do? She can't stand still knowing he might be hurt! He's like the little brother she never had! Even if they only met a few day ago. It's another fifteen minutes before the rocks in front of the cave shift and the heads of pickaxes break through, crumbling the rock. Standing at the front are about thirteen people, all covered from head to toe with dust and dirt and wearing miner helmets and clothes.

And one of them has a Turtwig on their shoulder and deep blue hair.

Instead of feeling anger like she thought she would, Jasmine feels relief flood through her as Akio comes out with the other miners, carrying a pickaxe himself. He slows down when he spots her and his eyes widen before he looks down and walks up to her, tensing as if knowing what's coming. "You're alright!" Jasmine claps her hands together, interlinking her fingers. "I was so worried you were hurt!"

Akio looks up, surprised. "You're…you're not mad?"

"Of course I'm mad! You went off into there when there were tremors! But I'm more relived that you're okay," Jasmine says, smiling brightly and seeming close to tears.

Akio smiles back, his light and dark blue eyes shining. Jasmine frowns quickly, making Akio frown and wonder what is wrong. The Hoenn girl stares at the Sinnoh boy's face, well, more accurately his eyes. "You have the strangest eyes I've ever seen," she says without thinking.

"What?" Akio feels his face, before he finds, to his horror, that he lost is sunglasses, _again_. "Uh oh."

"What's wrong? I think it's cool," Jasmine smiles, worried she made him uncomfortable by staring.

"I-it's nothing," he stutters. "I just don't like people seeing my eyes. That's why I wear sunglasses."

Jasmine smiles in understanding. "Well, aside from that, I'm so glad you're safe!" she hugs him, to his surprise. "And you're dirty," she says, dusting off his shirt. He pushes her away.

"I'm fine, Jasmine. You don't need to act like a mother Pidgeotto," he laughs.

"Akio!" he turns to Roark, who's walking up. "There you are. I wanted to thank you for helping us in there, so I'd thought I'd give you this," he hands her an orange stone with a yellow lightning bolt. "This is a Thunderstone, I found it while mining today. I think it's a right thank you gift."

"But I don't want to take something you found," he protests.

"Don't worry about it," Roark puts it into Akio's hand. "I think it's the least I can do. Alright, you go heal your Pokémon up and get cleaned. I'll be waiting for your challenge," he smiles and walks off, going to check on the other miners.

"Wow, a Thunderstone! That's amazing!" Jasmine says as they start to head back to the Poké Center. "That was so nice of him! But still, you'll be staying in the room until and after your battle with Roark."

"What? Why?"

"I can't let that go unpunished, can I? You're grounded to the room until your Gym Battle, and after that it's the same," Jasmine says sternly. Akio sighs.

"Fine."

-At the Center-

Conna sighs as she pulls on some fresh clothes, her skin is still pink from her shower and she dries out her hair quickly. She guesses that's the advantage to having short hair. She steps out of the washroom, being sure to have her eyes half-closed since she's in the men's room, and heads back to their room, knocking first before entering. Jasmine is sitting on her bed reading a book, Flare's head is resting on the edge, Stanley is leaning on Jasmine's side, Grace is sitting with her hands behind her head on the desk, and Louie is perched on the windowsill, like he was this morning.

She lets Sky out of her ball, the Bagon looks around curiously as Conna takes out her bottle, sitting on the floor as she brings Sky to her. She starts feeding her and smiles when Shizuka lies down beside her, resting from her expedition. "You did a good job, Zuka. Now that we have Razor Lead on our side, we have a much higher chance than before. Even if Sky isn't strong enough to fight against Roark, at least we have Type advantage on our side," she pats Shizuka's head.

"Are you worried?" Jasmine asks as they stand in front of the Gym.

"Terribly, but if I back out now, I'll never be able to forgive myself," Conna says. "This is my first Gym Battle, of course I'm nervous and worried. But what have I got to lose?" she smiles and steps forward, activating the automatic doors. The Gym is one large rock field, mounds of dirt and boulders scattered all over the place.

"So you came after all," Roark says from the other side of the field. "Good, now get ready for your first Gym Battle," he fixes his glasses and takes out a Pokéball.

Conna nods as Jasmine sits in the stands, watching with the rest of her party.

"The battle between Gym Leader Roark and Challenger Akio will now begin. When either side has no Pokémon able to battle, they win," a referee stands on a podium-like thing in the stands. "Let the battle begin!"

Roark tosses his first Pokéball and a Geodude comes out. 'Our first Gym Battle, let's give it our all,' Conna thinks as Shizuka stands on their end.

"Zuka, use Razor Leaf!"

"Dodge and use Defence Curl!"

Shizuka sends the leaves at Geodude and it dodges most of the attack, but gets hit on its shoulder. It tucks its arm around itself and a yellow square appears around it. The square turns into a blue sphere and blocks out the rest of the attack. "Use Tackle!" Roark says.

"Stand your ground and use Leech Seed!" Shizuka spreads her front legs apart and lowers her head as Geodude comes at her. The seed she sends at it latches onto its head and it tackles her, sending her skidding back on her feet, but only causes a minor bruise to form on her head. "Use Razor Leaf again," Conna bounces on her feet, smiling. Her blood is really pumping.

The attack hits directly and sends Geodude back into a rock mound. It slides to the floor and picks itself up, covered in dust and cuts. 'One more move should do it.'

"Finish with Absorb!"

Shizuka takes Geodude's energy and replenishes her injury, making Geodude faint. Roark returns it and tells it to rest as he reaches for his next ball. "Good job, but this battle isn't over yet," he says and sends out an Onix.

"Can you keep going, Zuka?" Conna calls. The Turtwig nods and the next part of the battle begins.

"Onix, Screech."

Onix lowers its head and opens its mouth to let out an ear bleeding loud screech. Conna covers her ears as she remembers getting the blast of that before. Shizuka is pushed back by the power of the attack and this gives Onix time to land another attack. "Use Slam while Turtwig's recovering!"

The Rock Snake swings its tail at Shizuka and sends her into a rock mound. She stands, a little shaky, and lifts her head, ready for her next command. "Use Leech Seed," Conna says, coming up with a plan to fake Roark out.

"Dodge and use Slam again," Roark says.

Shizuka sends a seed at Onix, but it misses and Roark sees his challenger smirk. "Swing your head in circles and use Razor Leaf!" Conna says as Onix swings its tail.

Shizuka flings her head around in circles, making a tornado of leaves fly at Onix, hitting it in the face and sending it back. "Recover and use Tackle!" Roark yells, surprised by the way Akio had Shizuka attack. It's almost the same way a Coordinator would show of their Pokémon's moves in Contests. Jasmine notices this too and smiles.

"Looks like you did learn something from your mom's stories after all," she whispers to herself.

"Use Withdrawal!" the blue shell comes up, but it's not enough. The tackle from Onix is too powerful and breaks the shell, sending Shizuka back. Conna gulps as the dust from Zuka landing on the ground clears. Her partner is badly injured, but she picks herself up, wincing slightly. "Oh man. Are you okay, Zuka?"

Shizuka just shakes on her legs, exhausted. 'What can we do? The only other Pokémon I have is Sky,' Conna looks at the Bagon's Pokéball. 'She's only a baby, and she only knows fire moves, they won't do much damage.'

"Use Leech Seed!" she says, seeing if that can buy her some time to come up with a better tactic.

"Slam Turtwig back."

Luckily, Shizuka's seed lands on a part of Onix's rocky hide and grows. But unluckily, Onix's slam hits her and sends her back, barely able to keep fighting. Conna watches as Shizuka stands up as Roark takes this to his advantage. "Finish this off with Headbutt."

Conna taps her foot quickly, trying to think fast. "Use Razor Leaf!" she yells. They've got to try taking the risk.

Onix closes in on Shizuka, who has a glowing green aura surrounding her, head low and about to smash her into the rock behind her when she flings leaves that look bigger and sharper than usual at Onix, hitting it directly and faltering its attack, but not completely. Onix's head smashes into Shizuka and the rock is smashed to pieces, causing dust to rise.

'Why is there always dust? It just makes everything worse,' Conna thinks as it clears.

Both Gym Leader and Rookie are surprised to see Shizuka getting to her feet as Onix lays there, swirls in its eyes. Roark returns Onix as Conna lets out a sigh. Only one more left.

"Akio, look!" Jasmine yells from the stands, standing up and smiling as she looks at Shizuka.

Conna turns to her Turtwig to see her glowing white. Before her eyes, Shizuka starts to grow wider and bigger, she loses the twig on her head and gets two bushes on her back in its place. On the sides of her face two points grow. Her legs and feet becoming fatter and her tiny tail grows. Once the white light vanishes, Conna gapes in awe. Instead of her Turtwig standing there, a bigger tortious Pokémon is. She has a yellow shell with a brown line going down her back, right between the two bushes, and she now has three toes on each foot. "Wh-what?" Conna mumbles, reaching for her Pokédex.

"Grotle, the Grove Pokémon and the evolved form of Turtwig. These Pokémon know where pure water comes to the surface and can carry other Pokémon there on its back," the Pokédex beeps.

"Wow," is all Conna can say. She bends down as the newly evolved Shizuka walks up to her, nudging her knee with her head happily. "Good work, Zuka," she pats her head. She stands with a new determination, Shizuka standing proudly as her old injuries don't bother her nearly as much. "We still have a battle to finish."

Roark smirks. "Yes we do. Come on Cranidos, let's show them what we're made of!" Roark sends out a dinosaur-like Pokémon and it scratches the floor with its foot, lowering its head in intimidation.

"Alright, Shizuka, use Curse!" Conna says, not trying to figure out how she knew her Pokémon learned that while evolving.

Shizuka cries out "Grotle!" and a purple light surrounds her. Conna notices her become more sluggish, but also notices her getting more eager and lowering her head.

"Cranidos, use Pursuit."

Cranidos runs at Shizuka and jumps at her. A strange, zigzag-like circle appears in front of its head and surrounding Shizuka. She winces, but takes the hit and, without needing to hear Conna's next command, uses Razor Leaf. The attack hits Cranidos back and sends it across the field. Jasmine sees the Razor Leaf doing much more damage now that Shizuka's evolved, even if that was only a few seconds ago.

Then she remembers that Akio had Shizuka use Curse. While for Ghost Types the attack causes the user pain while putting a curse on the opponent, on any other type it lowers speed, but raises the users attack and defence, so of course the attack would be more powerful now. Jasmine looks at Akio, wondering how the boy knew Shizuka learned that move, and how Shizuka just attacked without him needing to say anything.

While she ponders this, Grace watches carefully, eyes narrowed. She looks at Stanley and says something to him, making him look at Akio, then Grace, and back and forth three more times before laughing and saying something.

"**You can't be serious,"** he laughs. **"That kid couldn't be. He's just some rookie."**

Grace glares at him, but looks back at the battle. **"I still stand by what I said."**

Going back to the battle, Shizuka and Cranidos are both panting, sustaining injuries from their battle. Shizuka uses Absorb and takes a little of the dino's energy, but not much.

"Use Tackle," Roark says and Cranidos runs at Shizuka, knocking into her and sending her back a bit. The Grotle, now quite used to her new body yet, stumbles and falls, swirls in her eyes.

With a shaky breath, Conna returns Shizuka, smiling at the Pokéball. "You did great, Zuka. You deserve to rest," she puts the ball on her belt and takes off Sky's. "Come on, Sky, just a little more," she sends out her Bagon.

Sky looks at Cranidos and tilts her head as Conna tells her what to do. "Use, um, Fire Fang," Conna says, wincing back a bit. It won't do anything big, but maybe that's all they need to win. Sky opens her jaw and runs at Cranidos, but the dino dodges and jumps back to Roark, who throws a potion at it. "You can do that?" Conna asks weakly, annoyed at herself. She has potions! She could have healed Shizuka if she knew that!

"Yes, it's a real move," Roark nods.

"Dame," Conna mutters. "Use Ember, Sky!"

Sky opens her mouth and spews small embers at Cranidos, hitting it and doing next to nothing.

Or so Conna thinks.

Not long after the attack stops, Conna notices Cranidos glow red and receive burns. "Perfect! This helps so much!" she smiles. They might have a chance after all. "Use Fire Fang!"

"Cranidos, use Tackle!"

"Cran!"

"Bagon!" Cranidos slams into Sky, and in turn, Sky bites down on its side with fire on her teeth, making Cranidos cry out and jump away, the burns still hurting it. For the next few minutes, the same things happen, and Conna uses up all six of her potions whenever she sees Sky close to fainting.

Finally, after a long battle, Sky and Cranidos are panting, slow and sluggish from all the fighting. Both are close to falling over, and Conna closes her eyes to calm her mind. She reopens them and says to Sky, "Just one more hit. Use Ember with all your power, Sky!"

With an out-of-character fire in her eyes, Sky takes a deep breath and breathes out the weak fire attack with all her might. The attack hits Cranidos, sending it back, and it hits a bolder. It stands and after a few, tense seconds, falls over, swirls in place of its eyes.

Conna's eyes grow wide, did she…did she just win her first Gym battle…on her first try? She falls to her knees and just stares, unable to understand it.

Roark returns Cranidos and tucks the ball on his belt, smiling as he walks over to Conna. "That was a very fun battle," he helps her up and brings her out of her daze. "I don't think anybody's been able to beat me the first time for a while."

Conna grins brightly and feels Sky hugging her leg. For some reason, the young Bagon seems to have matured a little through that one battle. Jasmine runs down and tackles Akio into a hug, laughing happily. "You did it, Aki! That was fantastic!"

"Um…thanks," Conna says, pulling away. "Both Zuka and Sky did great, didn't they?"

"You all did well," Roark says, reaching into his pocket. "Here, this is proof that you beat me," he hands her a small badge that looks like the League symbol. "This is the Boulder Badge; with it Pokémon up to level twenty will obey you. Looks like you're on your way to the top."

Conna smiles and clips the badge onto her hat, hardly believing it. "Thanks, Roark."

"The next Gym is in Eterna City. You need to go through Eterna Forest to get there and that's passed the Valley Windworks. You'll find that on any map you look at. And before you go, take this as well," he gives Conna a grey disc. "This is Stealth Rock. You didn't see me use it today, but it hovers over the opponent's team and hurts any Pokémon that switches into battle."

Nodding, Conna puts the disc away. With a last goodbye to Roark, Conna and Jasmine head back to the Pokémon Center.

"You did a wonderful job, Aki," Jasmine says. "That was a brilliant battle. And Shizuka evolved too! But how did you know she learned Curse?"

Conna looks at the road, deep in through. "I…don't know," she says finally. "I just…_did_. Is that weird?"

"Very," Jasmine nods. "But there's nothing wrong with it. Come on, you're Pokémon must be exhausted."

That night, Conna lies in bed, unable to fall asleep. Shizuka is lying beside her with her head on Conna's stomach. Absentmindedly, Conna pats Shizuka's head and looks out the window into the night. Her eyes fall to the mountain that makes Sinnoh famous. Mt. Cornet towers over the land, always a presence no matter where one goes. She's always found it amazing and never knows why. It's just a mountain after all. But she can never stop thinking of how wonderful it would be to explore it.

She yawns and closes eyes. She's being ridicules; it's just a mountain after all.

Unbeknownst to Conna, Grace is watching her carefully. Her feelings haven't changed at all, she stands by what she told Stanley. **'It has to be the Rookie. It can't be anything else,' **she thinks.

Gery: Well, at least this one was faster than the last one, right? And Shizuka evolved! I was originally planning to have her evolve after they got through the contest, but I just typed and that happened, so yeah. Next chapter the two head back to Jubilife to compete in the Contest. How will Conna practice without getting Jasmine suspicious? Will Jasmine find out her secret? And if she does, how will she react? I know about as much as you guys. See ya!


End file.
